The Betrayal (Old)
by Legendary Junk Mail
Summary: AU: Post ME3 - Zaire Shepard destroyed the Reapers, but had to watch the Galaxy burn around her first. The Crusable fired, but Zaire was never found. 5 Years later Zaire returns, ready to put the swords away and retire, but the Galaxy hasn't changed, and Zaire may not have a choice but to fight for her right to live.
1. Chapter 1

_This is a Post ME3 Fanfiction where most of Shepard and her friends have survived, consider this the end result of a Paragade with a non aneurysm inducing ending._

 _I took ideas or themes from:_

 _\- Violet Eyes_

 _\- Blue: Cerulean_

 _So check those out, because I think they are awsome._

 ** _~ I don't own mass effect, Bioware and EA does ~_**

* * *

 ** _Location : Unknown_**

 ** _Date : Unknown_**

Calm blue water flowed around and through her, slowly pulsing and swaying, with but a thought the water receaded and a beach materialised in its place.

Shepard smiled and walked up next to her lost friends, Mordin was examining a sea shell next to Legion, and she could see Thane was meditating not to far away, his Wife sitting next to him.

She spotted Kaiden talking with his father, his mother watching the sea next to him.

Peace radiated from both within her and her surroundings.

David Anderson walked up next to her and watched the sea move with her.

He sighed, "you don't belong here Zaire."

She felt the world, her world, shift slightly.

She turned to ask what he meant, but he spoke again.

"Light Blue still needs you."

The world around them pulsed red and purple, causing Zaire to take a step back.

The world pulsed again, she could hear muffled yelling from somewhere.

Slowly the pulses began picking up speed, until all she could see was black and Blue.

* * *

 ** _24.01.0005 PRW_**

 ** _Earth_**

 ** _England_**

 ** _Private Medical Hospital_**

 ** _1600 Earth time_**

Zaire Shepard groaned as she woke, someone was yelling and it was giving her a headache. She slowly opened her eyes and turned to the location of said noise, a doctor of some degree was arguing with an Alliance Officer, and was clearly not happy with what was being said.

"Hey" was all she managed before she fell into a coffing fit, her throat was incredibly to dry. Both the doctor and the officer were to far away from her and too engrossed in their argument to realise she was awake.

After a few moments she tried again to get their attention "Hey, shut up will you, some of us are trying to sleep!"

'That's better' she thought, as the yelling stopped and silence ensued. Shepard smiled and let her head hit the pillow again, the sound of shoes hitting floor made her open her eyes again and she watched in amusement as the doctor looked at the monitors in disbelief.

"Eyes get any wider Doc and they will fall out of your head" she joked at his disbelief.

Though inside she sighed in acceptance, she had obviously been out again, and she desperately hoped it was less than 2 years.

The Alliance Officer who the doctor had been arguing with cleared his throat noisely, but when the doctor ignored him he simply stated. "We will continue this conversation after I consult with the Admirality board."

Then promptly walking out the room, the doctor turned to Zaire and quietly said "be careful Commander, the Alliance has changed while you were gone." Before going back to his charts.

* * *

 _ **1 Week later**_

 _ **Vancouver**_

Shepard looked out at the skyline from the Kodiak, and privately she wondered how long it took to simply remove the Reaper carcasses from where they had obviously fallen.

She wished Anderson could have seen it, he had been so proud of the resistance, they were slowly putting Earth back together again, after fighting for it for so long.

What worried her however, was Admiral Hackett's status: missing and presumed dead.

Hackett had been rumoured to be next for Fleet Master, and was responsible for the Crucible being built in the first place, the fact that he was reported missing and dead was troubling.

What really set her on edge was the Alliance Admirality board: they were lying to her.

According to the Alliance, her Crew had stayed around as long as possible, but commitments else where had drawn them away.

Liara had apparently gone back to Thessia to help rebuild, but Shepard knew Liara, and that she had left to help 'rebuild Thessia' was in her opinion, as likely as the Earth self-destructing.

She figured that the Alliance was keeping her Crew away, and she was worried about their rather obvious attempt at isolation.

The Kodiak landed on the roof of the Alliance HQ and she was escorted inside. The HQ was decidedly simplistic, bullet proof glass allowed light in and white washed walls separated rooms. The only colour was the standard Alliance Blue stripe and the holographic interfaces scattered around the walls.

Assistants, Office workers and Officers moved around with a sense of urgency, while security teams stood by doors and tried to look both reassuring and menacing at the same time.

Shepard walked past them all, escorted by the two stone faced guards in full armour from the Kodiak. They hadn't said a word to her since they had gotten on the shuttle, and it was getting rather irritating.

Walking up to a door marked as 'Private Conference', Shepard sighed and hit the door control. The door slid open smoothly and she walked in, mentally cataloging hidden turret inplacements, hidden doors and useable weapons and cover. By the time she had sat down, she had come up with 3 different options to escape with the current level of offensive weaponry pointed at her.

As she sat holographic projectors kicked in and 2 men and 1 woman in Alliance standard uniforms appeared, all three had Admiral ranks. Shepard only recognized Admiral Holt, as he was, according to Shadow Broker files, been a Cerberus supporter.

Finally a fourth appeared, this person she also recognized. As she stood up and saluted Shepard analysed the faces of the three Admirals.

And Mikhailovich, who had apparently been appointed as Fleet Master of the Alliance Navy.

Outwardly Shepard was the epitome of a perfect officer, straight backed and blank face, inside however she was fitting pieces together, something was going on behind the scenes, something big.

Her and Mikhailovich both disagreed with multiple ideals and methods:

She was pro-Alien where he was (apparently) Terra Firma.

She believed that constant patrols of the outer colonies was necessary, he believed that the old system of waiting for attacks before attacking back.

She believed that ships like the Normandy were tactically brilliant, he thought they were efficiently costly.

He had never faced ground combat, she practically lived in it.

Overall they were opposites in the worst possible way, and he was the one calling for her to be imprisoned back in Vancouver, claiming she was indoctrinated by Cerberus.

Her friends, most alien or pro-Alien had been denied access to her or sent on assignments.

She had heard through the doctors that the Alliance was preparing to cut life support before she woke and that somehow her implants had changed and were behaving oddly.

With the knowledge that Mikhailovich was in charge of the Alliance Navy she deduced that he had made some sort of power play with the Admirality board and was now trying to gain access to the Cybernetics and Implants in her body.

Keeping everyone away and having people with similar ideals in charge with him meant that few important people could object on moral grounds, and they could always say that one of the doctor was indoctrinated.

All this was deduced before she finished saluting and sitting back down.

"Commander, it's good to see you up and walking" said Mikhailovich, though his tone and stance stated otherwise.

"May I introduce you to Admirals Dunham, Salvia and Holt." He continued gesturing to each in turn. No doubt all three were part of the power play he had made to gain control of the Navy.

"Admirals" Shepard nodded in false respect.

"We will keep this quick and to the point, Commander, we all have things we could be doing right now" started Admiral Holt.

"Shepard, I assume you have been briefed on the general progress that has been made, and current affairs?" Asked Mikhailovich.

"Yes sir"

"Good, then that saves us all time then, Shepard, at some point between you getting to the Citadel and us finding you a week later in the rubble on Earth, your Cybernetics were tampered with." He continued.

"As far as we can tell ... they are reaper in origin" as he spoke Holographic displays lit up around her 'desk'.

The Holo's showed pictures of her Cerberus cybernetics through out her body to her left, a few seconds later and comparison data appeared on her right.

Shepard took a few seconds to look before paling, the Cerberus cybernetics and implants were mostly boxy and white washed with orange highlights, however, what she had now was definitely some sort of reaper technology. The smooth curves with an organic shape and black colouring was a dead giveaway, she also absent mindedly noted the more compact size.

"Commander, as hard as this may be to understand, until we can clarify that you are not indoctrinated, you will remain here, where doctors can test the cybernetics for indoctrinating effects."

Shepard however wasn't listening, facts, assumptions and possibilities were being sorted and plans of action were being formed. She couldn't stay with the Alliance, Mikhailovich would see her on a lab table for years, she couldn't go to council space due to the cybernetics, but she did have one friendly place to go.

With that decided she stood up and crossed the room, ignoring Mikhailovich's orders to sit back down, reaching the door she drew back a fist and punched the control panel, the door whined at her before shorting out.

The hidden turrets in sealing revealed themselves and turned to fire, however, before they could Shepard ripped the bullet proof panel off the wall, and used it as a shield as she hot wired the door.

As Shepard back out the now open door, Stone Face one and two were standing outside and reaching for their weapons, she never gave them the chance, with speed she didn't know she had, her fist whipped out with bioticaly increased mass and crunched into the faceplate of Stone Face one, decking him instantly.

Stone Face two began back up but Shepard hooked a foot around her ankle and pulled, sending the guard to the ground, before she could move, Shepard had gotten on top of her and pulled her helmet off, bashing her into unconsciousness with it.

Quickly stripping guard number two of her radio, heat sinks, rifle and Omni-Tool, she set out at a sprint, heading for the stairs. If she could get to the shuttle depot and steal a Kodiak, she could probably be in space before they could ID which one she had taken ... hopefully.

That plan quickly lost its appeal as the emergency alarm went off and a PA system called for security teams, the entire base was going into lock down as a 'prisoner had escaped'.

Deciding that a moving target is harder to pin down than a still one, Shepard started running.

Coming up on a T junction she heard heavy boots hitting the floor from both right and left, she ducked into a door marked as Staff Only and kept moving.

Two drones flew into view at the end of the maintenance hallway, not slowing down Shepard lifted her stolen rifle and pulled the trigger, the hyper accelerated grains of metal hit one of the drones dead center, and as it crashed into the ground, the other one turned towards her, and was promptly smashed into the wall with a mass increased fist.

Shepard was never more glad for her unusually placed Eezo nodes, as increasing and decreasing her mass without a amp was always an advantage.

Shepard quickly realised that she had to move, as the drones will have reported their last position, as Zaire moved forward again she thought about the security of the perimeter, from what she saw on the way in it mainly consisted of drones, cameras and fences.

She also remembered the damaged areas to the north of the base she had seen as they passed over them in the Kodiak. She could easily get lost in there for a few days.

Making up her mind she continued towards the stairs, absent mindedly however, she noted that she could remember the bases floor plan from the signs dotted around the hallways. Filing that thought away for later she moved towards the door that would lead to the main elevator.

Upon opening the door however, she walked right out in front of 4 security Officers guarding the stair well. Time seemed to slow down for her, as she brought her rifle up towards them, two of them were shouting at her to put the gun down, while the other two moved to lined up clear firing lines.

They had barely move before Shepard made her decision, lightening her mass as much as possible she hopped onto the wall and fired 2 rounds into the knee of the most left Soldier, as he fell she switched aim to the right most Soldier who had her rifle raised to fire, knee capping the two guards with rifles left the 2 with pistols.

They however hadn't the chance to draw them before Shepard was on top of them, swinging the rifle like a baseball bat, Zaire hit the officer closest to her with it before letting go, and using his falling body as a step to jump up and kick the remaining officer, knocking her out.

Spinning round Shepard grabbed the two pistols and tucked them into her trousers, retrieved her rifle and bolted for the stairs.

From her stolen radio she got from Stone Face two, she heard someone state that she was most likely headed for the roof and that he needed backup, realising she would have to be quick she once again lowered her mass and started taking 3 steps at a time. Getting to the top she burst out the door and was quickly spotted by the lone Officer, who managed a yelp and radio a quick "help" before she knocked him out with her rifle.

Doing a full 360 degree spin she quickly orientated herself and started moving towards the nearest edge, as she started moving however, an Alliance marine squad bursts up onto the roof behind her. Spinning around to face the threat Shepard lifted the stolen rifle and fired, putting a stream of rounds into the chest of the closest marine, the rounds didn't penetrate due to his Kinetic barrier but it did force the team into cover.

Walking backwards at a steady pace she continued to fire the rifle in bursts, the marines returned the favor but we're hampered by Shepard's good aim and reaction time.

Rolling backwards over a air vent and taking cover Zaire reloaded the rifle, unfortunately the marines took advantage of the pause to lay proper covering fire and to move up. Shepard, keeping to cover, moved along the vent towards the edge of the building, blind firing the rifle over her head. Coming to a stop at the end of the vent and just 8 feet from the edge of the building, Zaire took a deep breath, exhaled, and fired the last of the rifles clip towards the marines, who ducked at the sudden return fire.

Dropping the rifle Shepard strode the final 5 feet to the buildings edge and jumped.

Air flew past her face as she fell 170 floors before slowing her descent using her biotics, hitting the ground running she kept her mass low as bound towards the perimeter fence.

By this time the marines had reached the edge of the building and began shooting down at her, while drones were called in to follow her.

Taking one more stride Shepard jumped the fence and sprinted for the buildings of Vancouver, drones following her like a pack of wolves.

* * *

 _ **10 hours later**_

The petrol followed the drones as they swept over the rubble and narrow pathways.

Private Mcdraw sighed and looked to their squad leader. "Is it just me, or was the Major looking nervous at the briefing?"

"The IR was being questioned and somehow got loose, knocked out her guards, ran over half the base shooting people, before jumping off the roof of HQ and escaping into the City, I think it's safe to say this woman is dangerous." Replied Lance Corporal Shaw.

"I'm more confused about who the fuck she is" Added Private Adder

"Some political woman with friends in high places, they probably don't want her name on the news" stated LC Shaw.

They turned the corner and Shaw spotted a woman matching their IR's description (Pale face, green eyes, black hair and around 1.6m) wearing a trench coat.

Turning to their drone operator he nodded towards the ally she had taken, their drone operator, private Davis nodded back and begain typing into his Omni-Tool.

Their drones followed their orders and pursued the woman down the alleyway, but promptly went offline.

Private Adder started moving towards the alleyway, backed up by the rest of the team, reaching the edge of the ally he took a quick breath before spinning to face the dark path, weapon sliding from left to right. Nothing. It was a dead end, which ment their drones were gone as well.

"Now, where did you go?" He muttered to himself.

Having swept the alleyway, he turned his attention to the walls around them.

"Hey, LC, didn't you say the IR could use her Biotics?" He asked, pointing at the window two stories up.

Shaw grimaced, that building would be a CQB nightmare, making a decision he turned to Mcdraw and Davis.

"Davis, give Mcdraw a boost, I'll do the same for you, Adder."

Without hesitating they got to work, boosting two of their number up to the second story blown out window. Before Adder could get a grip on the ledge however, a foot lashed out and knocked him backwards, sending him crashing back down to the ground.

Mcdraw had enough time to grab his pistol, but it was batted out of his hands before he could aim it, two hands reached out and grabbed the collars of his armour and lifted him up.

LC Shaw couldn't believe his eyes, Mcdraw was wearing Standard Alliance Heavy Armour, the woman holding him up was holding three times her own weight easily.

The woman sighed, "I honestly don't know what the Alliance's idea was, teams of four Alliance Marines against an N7 Veteran in urban combat" she stated calmly.

"Mikhailovich must be off his nut to think they can catch me" she added before casually letting go of Mcdraw, sending him crashing at Shaws feet.

Turning to face Shaw she added one final statement "Tell the Admirality board that if they wish to dissect me, then I would recommend N7 teams or spectres" she laughed, "I've been both".

Taking a step back, the woman disappeared into the darkness, freaked out and thoroughly confused Shaw pulled McDraw to his feet and ordered a hasty retreat.

His helmet camera had caught it all.

* * *

 ** _thank you for reading, this is one of my longest chapters [checks the word count] ... huh, I could have sworn it was longer._**

 ** _If you like this length then let me know and I will keep them this way, if you preferred the 1,000 to 2,000 word chapters of V.B I will do that instead._**

 ** _Please note that short chapters are updated more quickly than longer ones._**

 ** _Anyway with that out of the way, once more thank you for reading this._**

 ** _~ JunkMail_**


	2. Chapter 2

_Welcome to the second chapter of the Betrayal._

 _Thank you to those who Reviewed, as it gives me the motivation to write more, anyway let's get on with it._

 _~ I don't own mass effect, bioware does ... Dun, dun duunnnn~_

* * *

 **15.02.0005 PRW**

 **Earth**

 **Vancouver**

 **0900 hours**

 **1 week after Shepard's escape**

Spectre Ashely Williams nodded to the door security before heading into the conference room, once through the door however, she grinned at its current occupant.

James Vega stood in standard Alliance uniform, though the N7 patch on his right arm was new.

"Williams!" Exclaimed Vega. "Dam, it been too long, how's the rest of Normandy doing these days."

Ashley laughed, she had missed Vega, but getting the N7 Certification had been a dream of his, and an opportunity he couldn't miss.

Normally, N - Training took 4 years to complete, but due to Shepard's reports and recommendations, he had been bumped the 'warming up and breaking down' training and had been moved to N4 within weeks to speed up the process.

"Looking good, Commander Vega."

"Don't make me blush, ma'am."

Before they could continue, however, a hidden door opened, and their hosts walked in, both Ashley and James stood straight and saluted, though technically speaking, Ashley was no longer Military as a Spectre, she still did it out of professionalism.

Fleet Master Mikhailovich returned the salute as the other Admirals spread out around him.

"Spectre Williams, thank you for responding so quickly, the faster this is resolved the better." Mikhailovich acknowledged.

As he spoke, Holographic projectors imbedded into the walls around them lighted up, producing a 3D model of a door similar to the one Ash came through.

"Before we show you this recording we need explain some points" stated Admiral Holt.

"As far as the public and lower military officials are concerned Commander Zaire Shepard is MIA."

After a short pause Admiral Silvia stated "This is untrue".

"What!?" Asked both Williams and Vega st the same time.

"You know where the Commander is?" Asked Vega.

"No, not anymore" said Mikhailovich.

"Anymore? Asked Ashely.

Mikhailovich simply gestured to the projection.

The image came to life as a previously frozen office worker walked past, however, a few moment later and Commander Zaire Shepard walked into view, Vega observed that her hair was far longer than during the war, but there was little doubt that she was alive.

As Vega watched Shepard, however, Ashley watched the two guards following her, they were carrying rifles and there was no doubt they were professionals. It was in the way they carried themselves, and the way they kept both an eye on Shepard and their surroundings.

Shepard paused for a second before opening the door and entering, here the recording paused.

"While in the briefing room we discussed classified information, it has now been declassified for you to see and to share at your will" stated Mikhailovich as an explanation.

The projectors kicked in again and medical files started scrolling down, in the center was a skeleton interlaced with cybernetics and implants, all boxy looking.

"These are the cybernetics in Shepard's body when she was held here in Vancouver before the war." Started Admiral Silvia.

The skeleton rotating was overlapped with muscle and skin leaving a picture of Shepard in Alliance Blues, before changing back again and moving to the left.

"And this is the cybernetics in her body as they were 2 weeks ago" finished Admiral Holt.

The new skeleton had slightly thicker bones interlaced with some sort of metal, however, the biggest changes were the implants themselves.

They had changed greatly, the boxy look was gone, and in their places were black organic looking things. Two were attached to both her lungs and stomach and there was one attached directly to her spine, and one just below her brain. From the one under her brain, miniscule tendrils had grown out throughout her body, with a focus on arms, legs and spine. Ashley spotted odd readings in her hands.

While Vega stood, looking pale, Ashley realised what the technology was, and what it meant.

"Its reaper cyber tech" she stated.

"Yes, unfortunately, it is." Confirmed Mikhailovich, looking solemnly at the projection.

With a gesture the medical files dissipated, and the video resumed.

As it did Mikhailovich spoke. "We explained this to her via QEC, as we didn't know how she would react, in retrospect, that was a rather wise decision."

As he finished talking movement on the projection caught everyone's eyes.

The doors HI shorted out for a second before turning green, the two guards turned around and raise their rifles but the male promptly hit the ground from a _blindingly_ fast fist, the second guard, a female attempted to back up and gain some room, but Zaire moved low and swept her foot out, hooking and pulling, sending the poor woman to the ground.

In seconds Zaire was on top of her, pulled off the guards helmet and bashed her unconscious with it. Vega watched in awe, as in seconds Shepard had taken down two fully armed and armoured marines in CQC.

"Her biotics are pure white" he observed, as he watched her body glow a pure white. Zaire pulled a radio out of the guards helmet and grabbed her Omni-Tool, before stuffing her pockets with thermal clips. Picking up the female marines rifle Shepard set off at a jog.

The projectors changed the scene to the roof of the HQ, and a few seconds later Shepard burst out the door, turned towards a surprised marine guarding the shuttle depot and knocks him out with the butt of her rifle.

Spinning round 360 degrees, Zaire moves towards one the roofs edges, however, before she can take a few steps a Strike team of 4 marines in full combat armour, charge out of the same door Shepard did and pulled up their weapons. Zaire, not slowing down, turns towards the marines and fired the rifle from her hip, the burst hits the lead marines kinetic barrier and forces them all into cover.

Shepard continues walking backwards, sending bursts of fire at the marines.

Hitting one of the air vents that crisscrossed the roof, Zaire did a backwards roll over it and fell into cover.

Ash watched, both worried at the detached way Shepard faced the marines and impressed with her for out maneuvering, and pinning a four man team with nothing but a rifle.

She also realized what she was planning as Zaire continued to move towards the edge of the building, shaking her head in disbelief she muttered under her breath. "you always said you loved biotic base jumping."

Just as Ashely predicted, Shepard dropped her rifle and dived over the edge, disappearing from sight as the marines ran the edge hopeless to stop her.

The recording finished and was instead replaced with a helmet cam. Ashley noted the time stamp as 10 hours later, even as Mikhailovich explained that he had deployed four man teams in the hopes of tracking Shepard's movements.

Watching the marines spot the woman in a trench coat disappear into an ally, follow her and attempt to gain access to a 2nd story window. Ashley listened carefully to Shepard's taunt.

"Obviously Shepard believes that the Alliance wants to 'dissect her', according to her records Shepard has a fear of bio-labs, scientific equipment and doctors, stemming from when Cerberus resurrected her." Started Admiral Holt.

"We believe that that combined with PTSD and this rather understandable fear, Shepard may be becoming indoctrinated." Finished Mikhailovich.

"In the recording Shepard said that we would need a N7 team or a Spectre to take her down, I'm hoping to have both."

Mikhailovich turned to Vega. "Commander Vega, you and the two N7's you trained with will be going after her, hopefully, under Spectre Williams command."

As Vega stood straight and saluted, Mikhailovich turned to look at Williams in question.

Spectre Ashely Williams saluted before saying "she's obviously a threat to the galactic community and right now, we can't afford to let her run wild."

Nodding once Mikhailovich spoke again. "Then I will have all medical files and security tapes from the incident forwarded to you, Spectre."

That stated, Mikhailovich and his 2 associates turned and left the two soldiers to think.

Once the door shut behind them, Admiral Silvia spoke to Mikhailovich.

"I hope this is worth all the trouble Mikhailovich, Shepard has a uncanny ability to kill those who piss her off."

"You saw the same reports I did Silvia, Shepard holds the key to us living to be as old as the Goddamed Asari."

Holt managed to interrupt them before they could have another argument on ethics.

"What about Project: Orthius?"

Mikhailovich grunted. "I'm getting funds for it ready, but the fucking STG is everywhere right now, so I'm being careful about what I'm moving."

* * *

 **25.02.0005 PRW**

 **Tuchunka**

 **The Pits of Novic Vole**

 **2 weeks after Shepard's escape**

Urnot Wrex grinned, The Pits were an excellent idea, he thought. Young males with too much blood in their brains could lose some of it where they wouldn't destroy all of his hard work, they also provided entertainment, as at the end of every month professional fighters fought to the death against various fighters and creatures.

The Betting was earning him good money to use, as people from Tuchunka to Illium placed bets on who would emerge victorious.

As he thought this he watched two angry pups storm in and start fighting each other, instead of Krogan starting fights on the street, they would settle it in the the pits and leave everyone else to their lives in peace.

It was getting popular as a past time to watch too, so much so that he was speeding up the construction of The 2 New stadiums. The Zaire and Solus Gladatoriul Stadiums were 3 years from completion, he wanted them done in 2.

Urnot Grunt stood behind him analysing the fighters and the cliff edges for threats. He didn't, however, spot the figure behind him.

"Wrex, you old bastard, you need to upgrade your security."

Grunt, spinning around in surprise, brought up his Shotgun on instinct, only to be knocked on his ass by a well placed punch to the eye.

Grunt, grunted, looking up at the small human female who had so easily decked him, before his good eye widened.

Urnot Wrex laughed, "Shepard" he said in greeting. Watching in amusement as Grunt was pulled to his feet by the tiny woman, who then affectionately patted his cheek.

"Getting slow Grunt, I didn't even have to bother with my biotics." Shepard grinned.

"Battlemaster!" Exclaimed Grunt, forgetting his pride in excitement, he then pulled her into a one armed Krogan hug.

"You don't look surprised to see me Wrex." Casually stated Shepard, while Grunt attempted to crush her.

"Ha, the last time you fell through orbit you were fine after a 2 year nap, what was different this time." He grinned.

Shepard grinned back. "Didn't die again, thankfully, Alliance hospitality has gotten clingy over the years so I decided to stretch my legs."

Wrex noted the dirty rags Shepard had wrapped around herself, the back looked like it could be pulled up over her head. He grinned, trust Shepard to hide in plain bloody sight. If she decided to run off into the wilds nobody would be able to find her.

"So" he said conventionally, as he and Shepard sat down. "What does a unkillable Spectre need from little old me?"

Shepard snorted "Wrex, while you aren't little, old is easily accurate."

They shared a chuckle at that, while Grunt, realising that privacy was wanted, moved off to yell at the guards for getting lazy.

Getting serious Shepard turned to look at Wrex.

"Has The Alliance been doing anything odd since I've been gone?"

Wrex shifted in his seat to look her in the eye.

"Been getting a bit anti-alien for everyone's tastes", pausing to think he added, "your admirality board has been a bit off, ever since Hackett met the void."

Shepard nodded in agreement, they were up to something, since Mikhailovich could only be Fleet Master for 5 years before being forced by legislation to step down and retire, it meant that it was more likely he was using his position as a means to an end.

Finally she asked "what happened to most of the Crew?"

"Most Alliance kept working on Normandy under Williams" he grunted. "Though some left, I think the council volunteered some people to fill the gaps and keep it things 'multicultural'".

"Most times it serves as infiltration and exfiltration for Spectre's and STG." He added after a second.

After a small pause to think he continued, "Vakarian went back to Palaven with his father and sister, Tali is working with the Geth on Rannoch, Javik is with the Hannar believe it or not and Vega was in N7 training." He finished.

"Liara?" Zaire asked quietly.

"Disappeared back to Thessia, however, I hear that the Shadow Broker network has been gaining power and influence since the war."

Wrex was one of the few who were ever let in on that particular secret.

"Think you could get a message sent?" She asked.

The big Krogan nodded once, before they settled back in their seats to watch the young Krogan fight.

It only lasted a minute before a booming, familiar voice broke the quiet mood that had settled between them.

"Wrex!"

Said Krogan sighed in annoyance, before standing up and facing his void be dammed brother.

"What is it Wreave, I was enjoying a myself?"

"You're moving the Rite Maw Hammers!?"

"They have been standing over us for thousands of years!" Piped up the Krogan beside Wreave.

"And are now far too close to the City limits" Finnished Wrex.

"Then build your dam stadiums somewhere else" retorted Wreave.

"My 'dam stadiums' are nowhere near the Maw Hammers, it's the houses being built for when the new borns grow up!" Replied Wrex, growing aggravated.

A bark of laughter caught everyone's attention, Zaire had pulled her hood up, which hid her hair and shadowed her face.

"What are you laughing at human" spat Wreave, clearly looking for a fight.

Wrex laughed as Zaire cracked her knuckles together, he realised that she was baiting his brother, and was interested in how she would reply.

"A Krogan who talks too much about things that matter too little." She replied.

Wreave snarled at the insult before charging her, not bothering to move out of the way, Zaire let Wreave charge into her, before rolling with the hit onto her back, and using her legs to send the Krogan over the balcony, and into the pit, head first.

Continuing the roll Zaire ended up on her feet, the hood had fallen down and her long hair was barely staying in its pony tail. Her eyes glowed slightly, and she had an excited expression on her face.

The Krogan who had backed up the now missing brother snarled at her, but turned and left, probably going to get Wreave from the pit.

A few seconds passed before Wrex commented, "That fall was pretty steep".

"Don't worry, Wreave acts like someone who sacrificed brain space to have a thicker skull." Replied Grunt, coming back out of the entrance.

All three of them shared a laugh at that.

"It's like you once said Wrex, being Krogan isn't biological, it's a state of mind." Added Zaire.

Chucking, Wrex repiled affectionately "it's good to have you back Shepard".

* * *

 **26.02.0005 PRW**

 **Unknown Location**

An Asari was seated at a desk, HI's projecting data that was scrolling past faster than the common eye could follow.

A human female walked up next to her, paused, before stating, "you should take a break, the galaxy won't end while me or Feron take over."

Her Asari friend sighed but said "the Alliance is hiding something, Miranda, they won't day who the IR was that escaped is, and all data on the subject has been Black Boxed."

Miranda Lawson grimised, Black Boxing was a theory created by humans that dating back over 100 years, but still worked as a secure way to hold data.

Basically, Black Boxing was a site guarded heavily, sealed from access to all but Admirals, Directors and specific AIS Agents.

To get in you had to know where the site was, to get there you had to pass through major allied territory, once there you go through finger, palm and eye scans to get through the front door.

Enter three different combinations of numbers and letters, and finally have the way you walk computer analysed, before you can access data cut off from all wireless networks, it was all hardlined.

Currently the base was hidden inside of Saturn's rings, and the previous Shadow Broker had failed to gain permanent access, as any outgoing signals were heavily scrutinised.

"Then we wait until a chance presents itself, until then, Rest is needed." She prompted.

The Asari sighed again before getting up and leaving, heading for her private quarters.

Silently, Miranda worried, the Asari hadn't been the same since Shepard had died.

* * *

 _And that is it for this chapter, thank you for reading, please leave a review if you would like more of this, I literally live off of reviews._

 _What?_

 _They're tasty!_

~ JunkMail


	3. Chapter 3

Welcome to chapter 3 of the Betrayal, thank you to those who Reviewed, it gives me the motivation to get shit done!

For those who have not guessed yet I will be splitting most chapters between Shepard and Williams to give a more understanding view of story progression.

Also note that this story is completely unplanned, so you guys have as much an ideas as to where this is going as I do.

And as always:

~ I don't own mass effect, Bioware does 'has aneurysm' ~

* * *

 **26.02.0005 PRW**

 **TUCHUNKA**

 **Zaire Stadium - In Construction**

"You bastard, we had a deal not to do anything like this!" Exclaimed Zaire.

The old Krogan Chief simply laughed at the annoyed look on the humans face, it was one of the things they use to joke about on the SR1, they both agreed that they would prevent statues of themselves or other crap from being built, but the old warlord couldn't resist when they asked for the second name for the stadium.

Wrex turned to look at the work in progress, anything Krogan engineered was built to take on nukes and made to last an Asari lifetime, so it was taking time to move the rock and metal necessary to complete the project. The end result would be a rectangular stadium 400 meters long and 200 meters wide, with seats for a crowed of over 400,000 Krogan.

Also, the design used called for four arches to come out to meet in the middle, where Holographic projectors imbedded into the stone would project close up shots of the action as well as other information.

The seats themselves would be raised off of the ground, as walls of stone and steel ran around the entire field, keeping the battles in as well as separating the spectators from the battlefield... hopefully.

Kinetic barriers would be stationed at every entrance and exit to the battlefield to keep the animals in, if the thick mass condensed, steel bars failed, that is.

Put out at the front entrance would be a large plaza for people to gather, and for stalls to sell their wears. In the center of the plaza was a stone plinth, which would depict Shepard, in full spectre battle armour and wielding her duel katana.

That little detail had really pissed her off and Wrex was rather proud of the amount of multi-species curses that particular detail had pulled out of her.

Walking through the plaza in relative silence after that particular incident, most of the workers had gone home for the day, leaving Wrex and Shepard to have the place to themselves.

"You've done good work here Wrex, the Krogan stepped up and are moving forward" commented Shepard, admiring the stone work in detail.

Walking through the main entrance, Shepard took in the open space and tall ceilings, the walls had alcoves with statues of warriors in armour, leaning on a veritaty of weapons, from swords and axes to war hammers and what appeared to be heavy spears.

The orange Sun caused to make the stone appear to be brighter and for the steel to glow in yellows and oranges, the red painted highlights on the stone framed the spectacle.

Taking a quick step through a hidden door behind a stone and steel rimmed pillar, they walked through some staff corridors wide enough for Krogan, they emerged in a waiting room that would be used to prepare warriors for battle. Taking the exit onto the field beyond gave Zaire some scale of the battles that were intending to be fought.

Wrex was planning to make full use of the space he had, as fighting would happen every month, however, the pitches were perfect for the Krogan game of Crunch, where 2 teams of Krogan fought to both take their opponents stone balls while keeping their own.

Walking through the plain flat land that would become the battle field, Zaire stopped and stared at the small blurs at one end of the construction site, it took her a few seconds to focus to realise that she was watching Krogan children climbing the stone blocks and construction equipment.

She wondered if she would ever see little children of her own running and playing.

Wrex stopped walking when he realised that Shepard had fallen behind, turning, he watched her. She was staring off to the more completed section of the stadium, and he could see movement on the blocks, no doubt that those dam kids were playing on the equipment again.

The look on his friends face however, was one of desperate hope, something he was both familiar to feeling and seeing.

He let her think for a few moments, before realizing something, and walking up to her.

"It was worth it Shepard, everything we did, everything **you** did, was worth it." he grunted.

Shepard simply shaked her head, "maybe Wrex, but tell me this? When can I stop?" She asked, "when do I say, 'its not my problem anymore' when issues keep showing up?"

Wrex gave a small grin, "that's just life Shepard, I've lived for over 600 years, and the problems will always keep coming."

"Then what do I do Wrex?" She asked angrily.

He laughed at that, "simple" he said "you find someone else to do it for you."

"Really?" She asked sarcastically.

"Yep" he replied happily, "Grunt does most of the shouting and bashing, Bakara does the talking, I just sit here and look menacing most days." He thought about it for a second before adding "plan stadiums too apparently".

Shepard looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, that and the breeding requests" he finished.

Shepard smiled and turned back to watch the kids, 'find someone else to do shouting and bashing' she thought, 'not a bad idea Wrex, not a bad idea at all'.

* * *

 **17.02.0005 PRW**

 **SSV NORMANDY SR2**

 **IN ORBIT AROUND EARTH**

Joker was bored, sure he was alive and well, he was still flying and he and EDI were happy. But, nothing really interesting had happened in years, and his job was to basically ferry people around, perhaps he was just too used to the missions that Shepard had done, but nothing really came close to what happened during the Reaper war.

He had been talking to EDI about possible retirement from active duty, teaching recruits how to fly was becoming more and more of a good idea as he wouldn't be able to fly forever.

His day dreaming was interrupted as EDI subtly flashed a light on his control screen to notify him someone was approaching.

Spinning around he grinned "Vega!" He greeted, "forgive me if I don't stand up and hug you, but you know" he said, waving his arm for emphasis.

Vega just laughed, "Joker, man I've missed you" turning to EDI he added "good to see you as well _Circuito"._

Turning in her seat EDI replied "thank you, it is good to see you as well Commander Vega."

"Commander?" Asked Joker, "since when did you get bumped up the chain?" He questioned.

"Commander Vega completed N7 training 2 weeks ago, Joker, he is now leading a small team of 2 other N7 graduates" stated EDI.

Vega grinned "nothing gets past you on the Normandy."

"Joker, set course for the Charon relay, all combat teams meet me in the war room in 10 minutes." Came Ashley's voice over the comm.

"Yes ma'am" replied Joker.

Nodding once to Vega, Joker turned back round in his seat to set course.

Vega returned the nod, even though the pilot couldn't have seen it before leaving the cockpit and making his way to the war room.

* * *

 **WAR ROOM**

 **Ten minutes later**

Williams looked at both her own team and Vega's, and couldn't help but think as to what her reaction to this could have been 5 years ago.

With her was their Turian weapons specialist Lucieus Genenis, who had once been part of the Blue Suns, after the reaper war he had seen the destruction of his home world he felt he could do more with his life. Ashley had found him after he helped save a salarian STG team from IR forces.

Their designated Geth sniper Enigma, took after it's names sake, as it had been part of the Geths security detail to the Citadel after the war, when it had met with Williams afterwards it had requested to work for her. When she had asked why, it simply stated that it would learn far more on the Normandy than anywhere else.

The teams explosives expert, a salarian named Merbon Hiral had come from the STG, he apparently had been on the same base as Shepard when she had come to gain the Krogan female. Inspired by her overwhelming victory against Cerberus he wanted to be a part of a team that dedicated, so when he heard that Wlliams was recruiting, he jumped at the chance.

Initially wary of STG spies, Ashley had asked Garrus for advice, who then pulled contacts and gained Merbons complete file, Ash didn't ask him how.

And finally their biotic specialist, an Asari ex-commando called Tellisa V'mona. Her bondmate, a Turian, had been killed in the opening days of the Reaper war. She had left with other like minded Commandos soon after, going to help when it became obvious that the Republics would refuse to enter the war.

After it ended she had continued to fight the IR for several months, when she had personally identified and tracked a IR, who attempted to kill as many Normandy crew as possible during a stop off on Terra Nova.

Saving 20 crew members, including Ashley herself, she earned herself a spot on the team, and now scuttle butt is saying that she and Specialist Tranor are sleeping together.

Ashley had personally done background checks on all of them and she had ran the team for almost 2 years, she had asked EDI to help out on some occasions but EDI mostly stayed on board with Joker, incase of a boarding attempt apparently.

Vega had his own team of 2:

A infiltration expert and swordsman named, Lieutenant Yul Banks who was a just over 1.5 meters tall and in his 40's, with combat experience in fighting slavers, Pirates and Reaper cybernetic forces.

And a Japanese woman in her 30's called Lieutenant Minako Nizshia, who specialised in tech, both hardware and software based. She had grown up on the Colony New Tokyo, a predominantly Japanese centered colony that was populated originally by the people of Japan when overcrowding became extreme. The colony is still the premier provider of humanities bladed weapons.

Williams thought of the ground team from the SR1 and the people Joker said Shepard recruited on the SR2, the Normandy appeared to be a magnet for the best and the strange.

The only combat personnel not to have been on the Normandy were Hannar, Volus, Batarians and Vorcha. Though, with the way the Volus were going that may change in the next decade, they had taken a rather big liking to Humanities Assault Walkers.

"Right, let's get this thing over with as Vega's team still need to unpack their gear and get some sleep." Started Williams.

"As you no doubt all heard on the news for the last couple weeks, there was a escape in Vancouver, a IR got loose and injured over 10 personnel before disappearing into the local ruins." She continued.

"The IR's name was given to us 2 days ago and we have been given the task of tracking her down." Added Vega.

The Holo table in front of the group lit up, depicting a human woman in full battle armour, wielding a sword in a two handed grip, and she appeared to be coming out of a biotic charge above a Brute.

The atmosphere of the meeting dropped as the respective races in the room realised who the person in front of them was, the Geth, naturally was the first to recover, stating: "identity of target - Shepard, Commander."

The Geths head flaps shifted to that of question "Query: Shepard, Commander has been declared Killed in Action, was this data false or has Shepard, Commander been revived again?"

Vega cleared his throat, "The Alliance lied, Shepard was apparently found 2 weeks after the Crucible self-destructed."

"Then why?" asked Tellisa "are we being asked to hunt her down, when she has obviously grown tired of being held by the Alliance?"

The Asari's reaction was partly understandable and Ashley Williams sighed, "the initial reason, apparently, was that Shepard was not too badly hurt, and that when she woke up she could choose to retire quietly or not." She started, "however, the doctors in charge of her care noticed anomalous objects and did a full body scan, this is what they found."

The Holo projector shifted, showing the medical data of Shepard's new implants, most of the team winced, and Enigma's singular 'eye' rotated as its head flaps went straight up.

"The data suggests that extensive cybernetics have been added" stated Enigma, "enhancements in offensive and defensive capabilities and unknown implants embedded into the Hippocampus and Cerebellum sections of the brain." It finished.

Ashley nodded before stating quietly "the Alliance also found evidence of nano-bots in her blood stream, however, they were hard to pinpoint."

"I don't think that we need to tell anyone who put them there" stated Vega.

"Reaper tech" sighed Genenis.

Their salarian explosives expert spoke for the first time, "Shepard has connections to all major allied races, access to dark secrets, if indoctrinated, will cause damage sooner or later."

"Agreed" spoke up Lt. Nizshia.

"Our mission is to track down Shepard, capture her, and bring her to the Council, the Alliance can argue for her release to their authority there." Ashley brought the teams back on track.

"We will go over her ideals, her motives, her abilities before and after the war, and find any weaknesses we can use." She continued, she turned to the Geth, "Enigma, can you see if the Geth collective will let us have access to Shepard's combat analysis records?"

"authorising" stated the Geth.

Data appeared on the screen next to Shepard's a SPECTRE file, it would be a long time before the team was ready to face the ex-commander. But they would face her, the Galaxy had enough to deal with at the moment without a loose Shepard causing destruction.

* * *

 **26.02.0005 PRW**

 **Unknown Location**

Miranda Lawson sat at the desk of the Shadow Broker network, over viewing data and compiling orders.

It was a step up, she decided, she was sharing control with 3 people she trusted the most powerful network of spies and information in the Galaxy, she spoke and met with her sister more often than she thought possible, and the only issues were of the grieving friend kind.

Before she could go down that train of thought, a priority message flashed at her from one of the orange screens in front of her.

The message was from Urnot Wrex, and it was marked as urgent, opening it she read the request: a secure private communication as soon as possible.

"Nikola" Miranda commanded.

Her personal information drone appeared, and stated "yes, Miss Lawson?"

"Open a private communication line with Urnot Wrex, security status - Black 2." She ordered.

"Right away, Miss Lawson" Nikola replied.

The channel was created through several secure servers before being transferred through a QEC connection to her location, and opened. She got a physical 3D model projected in front of the desk of the Krogan warlord.

Of course, all Wrex saw on his end was a shadowy figure behind a dark desk, it always payed to be careful.

"About time", the Krogan grunted.

"I am a very busy man Urnot Wrex, what is it you wished to speak about?" Miranda asked.

The scarred Krogan grinned before asking "Asari, Human or Drell?"

"Human" she replied, answering the question of who he was really talking to.

"Then you're going to love this, a dead Spectre showed up at my front door yesterday," he leaned forwards, "the reoccurring kind."

Miranda froze, surely he was incorrect.

The Warlord gave out a bark of laughter at the stunned silence and continued talking, "I'd go tell Light Blue that her 'Knight in Shinning Armour' is alive and kicking."

Finally getting her head in order she snapped out a quick "understood" before cutting the connection halfway through the Krogan's second laugh.

"Nikola I want the closest combat team and our quickest ship heading to Tuchunka as soon as possible" already getting other information up on screen.

After a moment to think of something she added, "And notify Glyph 'that Shepard is alive,' she's going to want to hear this."

* * *

 _And that's the end of this chapter!_

 _Again thank you for reading and please review if you enjoyed it, or hated it, just tell me why so I can fix stuff._

 _Also a quick note: Shepard is not really indoctrinated ... maybe, I haven't thought too far ahead._

 _But the story will generally be about Shepard trying to prove she's not and how the war effected everyone. I think._

Anyway leave a review, as I'm always hungry for more.

Seriously they are tasty!

~ JunkMail


	4. Chapter 4

Welcome to chapter 4 of betrayal, as always thank you to those who Reviewed.

Please note that I have gone back to previous Chapters and added dates! That's right, I was an idiot and have created more headaches for myself, but now you can see how long it is between chapters and stuff.

And possible future time skips become much easier to show.

Note: PRW means Post-Reaper-War

Anyway that's pretty much it, so.

~ I don't own mass effect, bioware and EA does ... fuck ~

* * *

 **Location: Citadel**

 **Date: Unknown**

Shepard groaned in pain, it felt as though someone had set fire to her skin with plasma.

She attempted to move her left arm, but all that did was cause her to lose consciousness from the unbelievable pain that caused.

Some time later, she woke to her body being shook awake, turning her head, Shepard looked up at Anderson, he looked better than she felt, though she had little idea as to what state she was in herself.

"How do I look?" Her felt voice rough and dry.

"Looks like a broken left arm, ah, and you also have burns on your arms, chest, and legs" he stated, while shuffling up to meet her eyes.

"Cerberus cybernetics should deal with the broken bones if they are set straight, uah, and the burns can be dulled with medi-gel" Shepard grunted, trying to sit up.

Anderson stopped her, pulling out a medi-gel canister and injecting it into her broken left arm, waited a few seconds for it to kick in, before pulling it straight, the pain was muted thanks to the medi-gel, though it still, in Zaire's opinion, it hurt like a bitch.

Anderson helped her up, "stay here for a moment Zaire" he moved to stand "I'll go find the controls for the arms, you follow when you can move, child."

He handed her another capsule of medi-gel, before turning and limping off towards a door.

"Well Shepard" she muttered to herself "congratulations, first person to survive a direct HMD shot" she grunted as she shot the medi-gel into herself, "lucky, fucking, me."

A few minutes passed and Shepard sat in silence, taking the time to look around and get her bearings, Zaire decided that she was under the presidium tower, in keeper rooms most likely, as everything was square and gray.

Realising that she could move without feeling like she was dying all over again, Shepard attempted to get up, pain shot though her left arm again, but it was bearable.

Getting to her feet Zaire started to walk towards the door that Anderson had gone through, the door however, refused to open and Shepard realised that she was trapped.

Taking another look around, she ignored the empty transport rails and what appeared to be containers, she didn't want to know what was in them.

Spotting a blue glow in one corner, Shepard moved slowly towards it. It was a hidden elevator, used most likely to transport Keepers around fast enough to keep up with the changing conditions of the Citadel.

Stepping into the boxed space, Zaire stared at the holographic control panel, one of the icons was blinking at her, hitting it with her right hand, the elevator began to rise.

After 3 minutes passed the door opened, the elevator had brought her to the Precidium rooftop, she could see Anderson below her, typing into the control panel that would open the Citadel arms.

"Anderson!" The glass was obviously sound proof, as no matter how many times she yelled, Anderson didn't react. Spinning around to the elevator she watched the door close, she was trapped again.

Looking back down Shepard's eyes widened in horror, The Illusive Man, he was walking up the steps towards David, and Zaire realised quickly that she couldn't warn him. Realising her lack of time she hit on the glass but David didn't hear that either, running out of options and seeing the illusive man holding a heavy pistol she brought her right fist back and she slammed it into the glass ... nothing, not a chip or crack.

Not bothering to stop, Zaire brought her fist back again and punched as hard as she could ... a small crack appeared in the glass.

It wouldn't be enough, Anderson, hearing either the Illusive Man coming or Shepard's desperate punches, turned, and was promptly shot in the chest twice.

Zaire Shepard _screamed,_ brought back her fist, her body a glow of pure blue, and brought her fist down like a hammer. The glass blew out beneath her, and she fell downwards, her fist, still glowing blue, slammed into the the Illusive Mans upturned, surprised face.

Rage burning in her, out of control, she flattened the remains of The Illusive Man to the ground, and kept punching until she was hitting the metal floor.

It took her a moment to realise what she had done, and for the previously ignored pain to hit back with crippling force. Barely able to stand, Zaire part crawled, part limped over to David Anderson.

"Christ Zaire, where the hell did you come from?" He was bleeding from 2 gun shot wounds to his upper chest, he wasn't going to last long.

"Don't give up on me Sir, you didn't on me." Shepard ignored the question, desperately hoping to stop the bleeding.

"Shush child, I'm done, to be honest with you I'm surprised I made it this far." Anderson sighed, pushing her hands away gently.

He coughed, blood staining his lips, "you've got a mission to finish Zaire, you have T'Soni waiting for you back down in London."

"You think I should be thinking about the mission, when the only other person I have ever considered a father to me, is dying in front of me?"

David smiled, "I've been waiting years to hear that Zaire, ever since you joined the Alliance."

He coughed again, far more violently this time. "I can die happy knowing that when I meet your parents, I can tell them with pride of what you've managed to do."

Zaire, who was crying by this point, simply smiled, "I'll see you on the other side Dad, whenever that is."

Admiral David Anderson died with a smile on his face, even as his eyes lost their light.

Zaire Shepard, watched as the only other person on her life she had considered a father, die in front of her, and with a quick wipe of the eyes she stood up, and headed for the Holographic Interface that controls the Citadel arms.

Limping up to the screens Shepard placed her hand on the correct tab, before selecting the icon to open the arms.

The whole Citadel shook slightly as the arms disengaged their locks and pulled back the armoured plating.

Shepard watched in awe as the combined fleets _pushed_ the reapers out of the way, letting the Crucible dock with the Citadel.

The icons on the holographic interfaces disappeared, and a singular, New symbol appeared in their place. Tears still falling down Zaire Shepard's face, she placed her hand on the icon ... and everything went white.

* * *

 **28.02.0005 PRW**

 **Location: Space - on Route to Illium**

Zaire Shepard screamed as she awoke, her fist striking out and hitting solid metal.

It took her a few moments to realise that she had been dreaming, her breathing was laboured as she tried to calm down. She had dreamed of the Crucible being fired, and it still worried her, because she couldn't remember anything after the white light.

She simply remembers waking up in hospital 5 years later, God, 5 years, Liara must have been devastated by the Alliance's lie.

Getting up, Zaire moved to enter the bathroom to take a quick shower, but paused when she spotted the bulkhead, there was a fist imprinted hole in it.

Looking at her right hand, she flexed it, no major damage at all, just some scraped skin.

Christ, she wasn't really human anymore, she was a robot with flesh over the top and a broken mind in control.

Entering the shower, Zaire hit the controls to turn it on and stepped in, washing away the sweat and tears.

Even as her body started to feel better her mind continued to replay the nightmare in detail. Nothing after the white light, nothing at all, it scared her sometimes, as she had to guess that she received the Reaper implants during that time.

Why was it always her who had to live? Couldn't she finally rest without some crazy organization, run by bigots, always reviving her?

Hell, Kahlee must have been devastated, you would have to be blind and deaf to miss the obvious attraction they had for each other, David had spoken of her fondly, fuck, she didn't know if Kahle live through the war or not.

And Mordin, he was old, for a salarian anyway, but he had deserved to see the fruits of his labor, the Krogan were slowly realising that they could do more than fight and destroy.

Legion, the poor thing, he had just gained proper individuality, only to sacrifice it and himself to give it to his people, from what she had seen on the extranet, the Geth collective were finally sorting their issues out with their creators.

Thane and Kaiden, both had died protecting something important to the mission, if only they could see the new council now.

The Citadel Council, she had read of the changes made and she was happy to see that they were _finally_ learning from their mistakes, and getting properly organised.

The old system was gone away with, and species who 'considerably contribute to the galactic community' are given full council seats. Embassy's would be given to new species and as they integrated themselves they would move towards getting a seat themselves.

No more Overlords of the Galaxy who thought they knew everything.

The biggest change however had come in the form of the Galactic Military, a separate organisation ran by a military board and funded by the new Council.

They would act as peace keepers and first aid responders, and they would be in charge of keeping the border between the Terminus Systems and Council Space free of Pirates and Slavers.

They would also act as the force unleashed on any hostile engagements on new species believed violent. Leaving the Turian Navy to patrol Asari, Salarian, Krogan and Volus borders.

Zaire thought it was a excellent idea, as the multi- species Millitary would not be biased by any one government, while also giving the Citadel Council new teeth.

Finishing her shower Zaire wrapped a towel around herself and reentered her small cabin, she had been picked up a few days after Wrex made his call, and now she was on her way to a space Station to transfer over to Liara's personnel ship.

Zaire sighed as she once again spotted the dent in the bulkhead, she just hoped there was something left of the person Liara loved in her for when they finally reunited.

* * *

 **Location: Archturus**

 **Date: 23.02.0005 PRW**

Ashely Williams sat in the Captins cabin on board the Normandy SR2, waiting for Intelligence to give them a lead.

While waiting, the team was going over every scrap of data they had on Zaire Shepard, in the hopes of coming up with strategies for taking her down that don't involve killing her in the process.

Her thoughts were interrupted when her comm. pinged, taking a look, she saw it was from EDI, opening it she asked "got anything for me EDI?"

 _"I believe that Shepard has gotten off of Earth, and is currently on Tuchunka"_

"Then tell Joker to set course and get us there as fast as possible" Williams was already out of her chair and in the elevator.

"How did you find her?" She asked, hitting the button for the command deck.

 _"I ran facial recognition software through ports in the area of last sighting, and I got a match, she was boarding a empty cargo holder heading for Tuchunka"_

"Excellent work EDI" she replied, walking up to the command post.

"Any thoughts to her goals?"

 _"She may be attempting to contact Urnot Wrex, and gain access to resources or contacts, as I believe that Shepard will be trying to find Doctor Liara T'Soni."_

Ashley grimmised, "you think Shepard still has enough of herself to want to find her?"

 _"It is the most likely scenario, as Doctor T'Soni has always been a buffer for Zaire when she becomes overwhelmed or agitated."_

Williams sighed, "Liara fell off the grid years ago, if anyone can find her, it's Shepard."

Vega walked up next to her "what's are ETA?"

 _"At best speed we can be there in 6 GS days." Answered EDI._

"She's going to move fast Williams, I hope we can catch her on Tuchunka, but I'm not sure it'll be that easy."

"Nothing ever is Vega, but as a Spectre I can call in a few favours and keep her from getting near council space without causing a massive panic."

* * *

 **27.02.0005 PRW**

 **Unknown Location**

"SHE'S WHAT?" Liara T'Soni was having either the worst, or best day in years, though right now, all she could think of was one thing, 'Zaire Shepard was alive'.

Her mind was trying to find an explanation to how, and why it was now that Shepard had come back. She had once again began to believe that Zaire had truly passed on to Athames embrace, and then she appears on Tuchunka, of all places.

She was crying, though she barely noticed, she had also fallen to her knees at some point, though she couldn't remember when. Her love, her bondmate, was alive, and the Alliance had lied to her, lied to her face about the fate of her bondmate.

"Why?" She asked Miranda "why did they lie to us, and why didn't we spot it?"

Miranda grimmised and looked to Feron, who had remained silent since the news of Shepard's status as alive was anounced.

"The Admirality board" He stated, "Mikhailovich became Fleet Master after Hackett disappeared, and he brought in his own people, who have similar ideals to his own."

Miranda nodded, "Mikhailovich was always very Terra Firma, perhaps when the reapers showed up he went to Cerberus?"

"Were missing something" quietly stated Liara "Mikhailovich being Cerberus doesn't account for keeping Zaire locked up for 5 years."

"Did Wrex say anything else?" Asked Feron.

"No, though he sent the schematics for a prison cell, designed for Biotic Krogan, to me, said Zaire wanted one ready."

"Biotic Krogan?" Liara looked bewildered, before she pailed to a grayish blue, "Oh Goddess no!"

"What?" Asked Miranda, alarmed at Liara's reaction.

"Who has the Alliance recently lost?"

"Lost?"

"The IR, they said that a Indoctrinated Remnant broke out of Vancouver, Remember?" She continued.

"That cage Wrex sent could hold a Biotic Krogan, or a Cybernetic Biotic Human!"

Miranda froze, paling as well "If Shepard asked for this she must have some concrete evidence."

Feron, however, was far more detached. "I say we build the Cell Wrex sent us and bring it, and as much medical equipment as possible with us."

He continued "If she is indoctrinated or becoming so, she goes in the Cell, if not, the cage is not necessary."

Miranda Lawson grimmised but nodded, "Nikola, get the Construction Drones to build the Cell Urnot Wrex sent plans for."

Her Omni-Tool beeped once at her, confirming it's orders were given.

"I, I think I need to lie down" Liara muttered.

Stumbling to her feet, she left through the door, towards her quarters.

"You get us ready" stated Miranda, "I'll watch Liara."

Feron nodded before heading to the bridge.

* * *

 _And that's the end of this Chapter!_

 _Please feel free to review, as ideas and comments are always welcome._

 _I think I will show the new council in the next chapter, hopefully anyway._

 _Next chapters the story starts to be explained a bit more and Zaire gets a long term objective and some much needed R &R with Liara._

 _Anyway, thanks for reading!_

 _~ JunkMail_


	5. Chapter 5

Welcome to chapter 5 of The Betrayal, thank you for the reviews as always and putting up with my random ass writing.

In this chapter I am going to be showing off a new Citadel Council that does shit properly, with no one species biases causing bullshit and each councilor trying to one up the other.

Liara and Zaire finally reunite and they start to work on understanding Shepard's new cybernetics.

~ As always, I don't own mass effect, bioware and EA does, as apparently people on this site get confused about that for some reason ~

* * *

 **20.02.0005 PRW**

 **Citadel - Widow nebulae**

 **Private Council Chambers**

Councillor Dominic Osoba took a moment to breathe, the private chambers of the Citadel Council was far more relaxed than its public counterpart, as he was seated in a comfortable leather backed cushion chair, facing the equally seated councillors of the other respected races, the walls were painted and the floor was carpeted in relaxing colours, with glass tables next to each councilors chair for drinks.

In the middle of their circle was a high quality holographic projector currently projecting medical data, as well as accompanying Spectre and Alliance files, while a separate one projected Councillor Shala'Raan, who was on Rannoch.

Right now however, Osoba was frustrated. He had spent the better part of his morning arguing with Admiral Holt, and then hours later with Fleet Master Mikhailovich, before going to the Council Chambers and announce that the Alliance Military had been lying to them for years.

"I will say it again, I was only notified of this development recently!" He exclaimed.

Councillor Irissa, the Asari Council representative nodded in agreement, "I believe that the correct human saying is 'Don't shoot the messenger' and I agree, the Systems Alliance's Admirality board kept this a secret from all of us."

Councillor Esheel, the new Salarian councilor, spoke up, "why are we talking about this development anyway, Spectre work is done by the Citadel Military Board."

The Volus Councillor, Kari Varn answered "we are here to discuss whether or not to disclose this information to the public."

The new Turian Councillor Vail Quentius, spoke for the first time that meeting "disclosing this now would limit the number of allies she could draw on, and stop her from being welcome on quite a few planets outside our influence, however, the moral drop would be incredible, and it would seriously and unnessersarily damage the Alliance Government for its Millitary's mistake."

The Holo of Councillor Shala'Raan made a sound of agreement "this Galaxy is fragile enough as it is, thanks to the Volus we still have a working economy to start with, Spectre Williams has adequate resources for her to capture Commander Shepard, if this changes, I'm sure the Geth Collective will be happy to supply reinforcements."

Councillor Irissa nodded "It would also be best if the Eclipse was kept out of this as well, as my informants say Jona Serdaris is furious with the Commander due to when she refused to release her from incarceration."

"And the Alliance?" Asked councillor Esheel.

Osoba was quick to answer, "Alliance Internal Affairs is starting a investigation into the admirality board quietly, and we have taken Shepard out of their jurisdiction, so they no longer have control over her."

Councillor Quentius ended the meeting quickly and efficiently "good, then there is nothing more to discuss, the public will know once Shepard is in our custody, and the Alliance Military can be dealt with without compromising Humanities Government."

* * *

 **Destiny Ascension**

 **Widow Nebulae**

 **Director Phaore T'neari** **of the Citadel Navy**

"The Alliance Admirality board is getting far too arrogant for its own good." Stated Director T'neari.

"Agreed" said the Turian Director Quimius, of the Citadel's Ground Forces, "however, they will have to wait, as we have a rogue Intergalactic War Hero to worry about."

"Spectre Ashely Williams has already started the hunt, and quite frankly, I think she has the best chance of success, the Normandy's AI spotted Shepard heading for Tuchunka and has the equipment and personal needed." He continued.

The Director of Patrol Fleets, a Human called David Flesher added to the Conversation "I spoke with the Geth Collective, they have agreed to provide reinforcements if it becomes necessary or if outside parties become involved."

The 3 Directors in the conversation turned to their 4th, the Military Intelligence Director, a Volus by the name of Dera Von. "I have spoken with Urnot Wrex and he has claimed that Shepard has not been seen, however, he has always been supportive of Zaire Shepard, and she did cure the Genophage during the War, he is going to trust her over us."

Director T'neari grimmised, "Shepard is as powerful as she is adaptive, from my limited experience with her she gave the impression of unpredictable ability, who knows how this will escalate."

Director Quimius flared his mandibles, "indeed, I have no doubt that this will escalate, just a matter of how."

* * *

 **01.03.0005 PRW**

 **Space Station - The Stop**

 **Terminus Systems**

The space station itself was Asari in design, one of the older explorer-class stations from before the Rachni wars, which had stopped production when the ban on exploration of new relays was created.

Like everything built by the Asari though, a lifetime for them was 1,000 standard years, so any space stations built by them had a longer life expediency than models built by other races.

Because of this, all it took was for Liara to have some people dig through a junk site and find it, repair and upgrade it, and it was ideal for use as a Broker stop off point to the Terminus systems.

Liara paced the length of one of The Stop's docking bays nervously, she had been pushing her network to its maximum to try and find out what happened to Zaire, and she had been in luck, the Citadel Council had been given information about the IR who escaped from Vancouver, and it was Shepard as she had feared, and the implementation of Cybernetics were extensive.

She hadn't completely lost hope, as the Alliance had been unable to find any indoctrination effects in the understood sections of Zaire's cybernetics, but the pieces placed in her brain were still unknown.

Zaire herself, had also asked for a cell to be ready for when she arrived, that in itself gave her the most hope, as a fully indoctrinated Shepard would have not bothered preparing a cell for herself.

Looking up as Miranda Lawson stepped into the bay with her, she was dressed in a full hard suit, equipped with a rifle on her back and a submachine gun on her thigh. Two more Shadow Broker Operatives stepped out after her and took positions at opposite ends of the dock, Miranda had insisted on having an armed presence after seeing the files the Alliance had on Shepard's cybernetics.

Walking up next to her Miranda nodded once before signaling to the closest camera, and the docks sealed doors opened, a Kinetic Barrier stopping air from leaving, and the Frigate; The Wanderer, slipped into its cradle.

The Frigate itself was a retired Turian Scouting ship, as the small size, over the top engines and streamlined look, made it distinctive, at some point it had been painted pure black, which would make it impossible to find in space if the crew were to cut the engines.

The doors sealed back behind the Turian Ship and anchors moved into position and locked into place, keeping the ship from moving, The Wanderer powered down its oversized engines and finally, the underside cargo door opened and the ramp descended, standing at the top of it, was Zaire Shepard, who looked incredibly nervous with her head held low and her arms folded, she appeared to be considering disappearing back into The Wanderer.

Liara didn't notice. In a storm of biotic energy she rushed up the ramp and tackled Zaire to the ground, tears falling down her face as she kissed her bondmate for the first time in 5 years.

Zaire, momentarily stunned, quickly returned the kiss with as much force as she could manage, her own pure white biotics flaring in response to Liara's chaotic blue.

"Christ, je Liara avez raté votre goût."

And from there it dissolved into more crying, hugging and plenty of kissing.

Shepard was brought out of the moment by a rather loud cough, looking up, Zaire was grinning in genuine happiness in what felt like the first time in years, "finally, some good luck, it's been too long since that's happened to me."

Miranda Lawson grinned back, "we have a bed ready for you if you can hold out long enough."

Zaire's eyes lighted up at the suggestion, "Miss Lawson, that is an excellent idea" talking a look down Shepard laughed as Liara tightened her hold, refusing to let go.

"Though I might need a hand getting up." Lifting a hand towards the former Cerberus operative, she also used her biotics to simoltaionouly lighten Liara and herself enough to be pulled up by Miranda.

As they walked down the ramp, Zaire carrying Liara bridal style, Miranda signaled the two guards to remain at their posts, they wouldn't be needed.

* * *

 **02.03.0005 PRW**

 **Space Station - The Stop**

 **Terminus Systems**

Zaire hadn't separated from Liara since they had been reunited at the stations dock, and both were not planing to separate anytime soon.

They had spent the first few hours once they were alone finishing what they started on The Wanderers cargo hold, after that however, they had kept close and slept, content to bask in each other's presence, and for the first time since Zaire had woken up in that private hospital, she didn't have any nightmares.

Now they were walking through the stations corridors, heading to meet up with Miranda, Shepard had wanted to have Liara find Miranda with her contacts, in the hope of having someone she trusted and who was the closest to a expert give the analysis. That however, was not needed, to her pleasant surprise Miranda had been helping Liara manage the Broker network with Feron.

Combined with their preparations, Miranda had the equipment needed to start looking at the cybernetics in her body, as well as whether they were trying to indoctrinate her.

"We are going to have to have a talk tonight Liara." Zaire said quietly, while she slipped her arm around the Asari's waist and leaning on her shoulder.

"Oh?" She murmured.

"I cannot tell if I'm the same woman that I was Li, and you have been without me for 5 years, it was terrible enough when I was gone for 2, because of the dam Collectors."

Stopping at the door to the medical lab, Liara turned to look at her lost bondmate, and she realised just how truly alone she must feel she was. It was aggravating, she thought, that they could not meld until they could establish whether Zaire was being indoctrinated or not, and she could not truly help her until she could prove to her bondmate that she was till the same person as she was before the War.

She also knew her bondmate, and exactly what she was attempting to do.

"You are Zaire Shepard, I know it, you know it, and you are not going to shut me out." She warned. "We will face whatever challenges the future has together, as we always have."

Zaire bowed her head in defeat, before sliding forwards and hugging her beautifully stubborn girlfriend, muttering in her ear. "I'm scared Liara, I don't know if I will wake up tomorrow and try to kill you or not, and it scares me."

A tear fell down Zaire's cheek, which Liara wiped away. "Then let us help you Zaire, let us in."

Zaire's only response was to nod, before she sniffed. "This is why we need to talk Li, we need to plan what we want to do with our lives."

"I agree love, so let's get this done, and then we can plan our future together."

Taking a moment to compose themselves, Liara pressed the HI to open the Medlabs door.

Miranda was standing in the middle of a rather large full body scanner, and she turned to see who had entered her lab.

"Shepard, Liara." She acknowledged, but was already turning back to the scanners interface.

"I'm just getting the scanners calibrated to human biology, it shouldn't be too long."

"Am I just getting scanned today or are there other things I'm going to have to endure?" Zaire asked nervously.

Liara guided her to a table she could lean against, while she herself went to help Miranda set up the equipment needed.

Miranda's reply was quick and to the point, "we will do some deep penetrating body scans and I will take some blood and skin samples, after that we will test your reflexes, strength, speed and biotics."

Zaire took a moment to carefully look around the room and she noticed something hidden in the corner, the Cell she had sent plans for, they had built it ... good.

Apart from the Cell, it was a typical looking medical lab, plenty of sharp objects and scanners looking every which way, tiled floors and white washed walls separated by tinted windows., with interactive holographic projectors in the middle of the room for data study.

"There, done" stated Liara "Zaire love, could you come here and stand on the scanners pad?"

Hopping off of the table Zaire moved forward and onto the marked pad, and the scanners automatically registered her presence and shifted to the correct height.

The scanner was basically a collection of 3 rings that rotated around a white plated pad, the rings contained scanners, designed to create a 3D scan of the entire body, and be able to be adjusted for any species.

To the right of the pad and rings was a bank of monitors that were connected wirelessly to the pad, where all of the data from the rings were sent to.

From the monitoring station the person in control had the ability to see the incoming data, send commands to the scanners themselves and transfer the data to holographic projectors placed in the space in the middle of the room.

It took 10 minutes of Zaire standing still as the rings rotated around her, once finished however, the rings all lined up to let her out, and Liara was already looking at the Holographic displays of her new implants.

One thing stood out to Zaire immediately. "They're Gold?"

"Gold coloured, most likely, which is rather different than black and purple." Stated Miranda, placing her hand to the projection, she motioned for it to expand, and the Holo complied.

Miranda was muttering under her breath, but Zaire was sure she caught the line 'they didn't ever bother to ask me first' at one point.

"They look, almost crude, compared to the cybernetics found in the dead thralls recovered after the War" Stated Liara.

"Agreed, they are of the same origin, but it's older, likely they are older versions of reaper cyber tech."

"Which means?" Asked Shepard, completely lost to her friend and bondmates medical ramblings.

"It means we will have to look onto it more closely later" dismissed Miranda, instead she typed something on her Omni-Tool and the Holo of her cybernetics zoomed out, and refocused on her head.

"The scanners didn't detect any subvocal sound waves used in first stage indoctrination, but these implants here are of some concern" she continued.

"I'm going to need a few days to figure out what their purpose is, but one of them is replacing the spot where I used cybernetics to reattach your nervous system to your brain stem."

Liara frowned, "it's also in the same place a Asari Biotic implant would go."

Miranda nodded in agreement "it may be some sort of Amp, and it would explain why your biotics are white as well Zaire."

Shepard crossed her arms "I tried using my biotics back on Earth, but apart from changing my mass, I can't access anymore of my abilities."

While Liara frowned at her bondmate, the Ex-Cerberus Operative shook her head "let me get those blood and tissue samples and Liara can show you the rest of the station while I work."

She sighed, "you always manage to give me the impossible to figure out" she then smiled "keeps me on my toes."

* * *

 _And that's the end of this chapter people!_

 _No Williams this time, though she will be in the next one._

 _So we get a bit of a look at what Zaire really has in her body, and we also see just how badly the War hurt Zaire psychologically._

 _Anyway, I'm going to be posting chapters every Thursday for the near future, as College is kicking into gear._

 _As always please feel free to review as I find them increasingly tasty, yep!_

 _~ JunkMail_


	6. Chapter 6

~ I don't own mass effect, Bioware and EA does ~

* * *

 **29.02.0005 PRW**

 **Tuchunka**

 **Urnot Central City**

Spectre Ashley Williams stood and watched as Krogan got off and onto various ships, some carrying children and luggage, others shifted raw materials used in the on going reconstruction and expansion of Urnot City.

Stepping down the Normandy's cargo bay ramp behind her, Tellisa stretched her limbs "finally, some air that hasn't been recycled 5,000 times."

Ashley grinned at the Asari's inability to stay still, as a Matron of 340 years, Tellisa was still as curious as a 100 year old Maiden. Which meant that after several fiascos, she had to always be with one of the other ground team members, usually Enigma, who was sometimes equally as curious about the Universe as she was.

"Call Enigma, we can explore the City if Wrex is busy."

The Asari nodded before calling up her Omni-Tool and quickly typing into it, 5 minutes later and Williams was heading towards the Political District with both her curious ground team members 'keeping a eye out for trouble' while taking in the New Krogan City.

Most Krogan architecture was built in stone and steel, with homes and stores adding their own touch, the wide streets which were designed for Krogan was lined with the most non-lethal plants and vegetation Tuchunka produced, meaning that small children of Asari and Krogan could play happily.

Armed Krogan in white and red painted armour patrolled the streets, keeping order and directing heavy disputes to less crowed areas.

Coming up to the Political District, two Krogan with heavier weapon loadouts stopped them, though they quickly directed the three in the right direction when Ashely showed her ID.

2 elevator rides later and they met with Wrex's Secretary, a Asari Matron who called Wrex and arranged for him to arrive a few minutes later.

"Williams!" Wrex barked out a friendly laugh and gave her a quick arm shake.

"Wrex" replied Williams calmly, gesturing to her two squadmates to remain outside, she shut the door behind her.

Heading for his desk Wrex talked over his shoulder.

"I was told you would be heading my way" sitting down in his oversized chair, he leaned in "so, I'm told that Zaire Shepard is alive and well, and she has already pissed off the New Council!"

Ashley nodded, "the Alliance kept it quiet, and the council is looking into the reasons why they couldn't find out about it, however, we need to find Shepard as quickly as possible."

Sitting herself down in the opposite chair she continued.

"She was seen boarding a ship heading here, I've already got Vega asking for the crew to be questioned."

The scarred Krogan shook his head, "if Zaire is alive and on Tuchunka, she will try to hide in the wilds, and we both know it would be impossible to find her out in those waste lands, your best bet would be to keep an eye on the Human edible food stalls."

Ashley nodded, "the council tell you why we are after her?"

Wrex nodded "if I see her, I'll call."

Saying goodbye and exiting the office, Ashely regrouped with her two curious friends before heading for the elevator.

"She's not on planet" stated Williams once the lift doors shut around them and she had hit the correct button. Inside the lift Enigma's head flaps went up in question.

"Reason for this deduction?" He asked after a moment to think.

"Wrex suggested we should stay on planet and watch the food stalls that sell human edible food, and that Shepard would be hiding in the wilds." She stated.

Tellisa still looked confused, so Ashley elaborated "we know that Shepard was here and that she would be looking for Liara, going to Wrex would be the logical first step because even indoctrinated, Wrex would never tell us where she is."

"Therefore Urnot Wrex stating we should stay on Tuchunka means she has most likely left" their resident Geth deduced.

Ashley nodded as the elevator doors opened, revealing three large Krogan in battle armour, holding Claymore Shotguns.

Immediately on high alert, all three people in the elevator drew weapons of some sort, though neither party fired.

"Is there a specific reason your pointing Shotguns at a Council Spectre?" Ashley asked, "or is this just a bad choice of targets."

The Krogan in front simply grunted, but lowered his gun nonetheless, his two companions doing the same a moment later.

"Urnot Wreave" in typical Krogan fashion he introduced himself with a grunt. "I heard that your looking for one of your own bloody kind."

"That entirely depends on who you might or might not of seen" Williams replied, holstering her own gun while gesturing to her squad to stand down.

He grunted again, "female, same skin colour as you, was speaking to Wrex 4 days ago, my associate said she had black fur on her head and green eyes."

"You didn't see for your self?"

"No, she had cloaked herself in raggs."

One of Wreaves guards spoke up "He was talking with Urnot Wrex and were discussing important matters, when she got involved and insulted Wreave, when he confronted the Pyjak, she threw him over a cliff."

Ashley forced down the smile that attempted to show itself, and asked "you kept track of her?"

Pulling out his Omni-Tool the Krogan passed on details of a ship that had left for Illium.

"Why are you helping us?" Asked Tellisa, not used to Krogan being so forthcoming.

"She threw me over Wrex's personal balcony in the pits of Novic Vole, she insulted me and made me look like a fool, so this is my revenge."

Ashley nodded respectfully to the irritated Krogan "thank you for your cooperation."

Wreave growled before spinning around a leaving, his little entourage following behind him at a respectable distance.

"Come on, we need to get to Illium as fast as possible, Enigma, contact EDI and notify Vega, we just got very lucky."

* * *

 **05.03.0005 PRW**

 **Space Station - The Stop**

 **Terminus Systems**

The alarm clock was going off, and Zaire Shepard awkwardly pulled an arm away from her lover in order to crush the damned thing under her fist.

For the first time since she had escaped from the Alliance, Zaire allowed herself to ignore the time and cuddled closer to Liara, to the apparent approval of her girlfriend, who was currently using her as a living pillow.

As she settled back down, Zaire thought about their conversation they had had earlier before bed, well before they had became a bit over excited and gotten carried away.

* * *

 **11 hours earlier**

Liara had just finished her shower and was rapping her towel around herself, Zaire had taken one earlier and was waiting for her when she walked out and sat next to her on their bed.

Zaire had been looking at a photo of her and Anderson, from the look of their background they were in Arcturus station, she recognized that it had been taken just after her N7 certification, and Zaire was grinning madly in it.

"I miss him, Liara".

It was obvious who she was talking about, and Liara new through their previous melds on the Normandy that Zaire had thought of Anderson as a father.

"We've all lost people to the Reapers Zaire, it's about moving on and proving that their sacrifices were worth it that's important."

"But why am I alive?" Zaire started to get visually frustrated "what made me different from Anderson, Mordin or Thane?"

"Nothing, it was pure luck that so many of us managed to live through the War in the first place, and I think you need to learn to move on, love."

Shepard paused before remembering what Wrex had said on Tuchunka, Perhaps it was time to start thinking about those Little Blue Children again, after all, she wouldn't live forever, no matter if she ever entered another battle or not.

Out loud she replied "I could care less about the Council's opinion, but if we can prove to them that I'm not indoctrinated and once Miranda has figured out my Cybernetics, perhaps we could start thinking about settling down on Thessia or somewhere?"

Liara's eyes brightened and she gave a kiss of agreement, "one of my mother's old estates is still standing back on Thessia and its remote, I could easily run the brokerage from there."

Zaire Shepard smiled "we could take regular visits to Tuchunka, Palaven and Rannoch, hell we could go visit Jack and Samara if we wanted to."

Zaire's voice became quiet "we could even think about those little Blue Children we talked about on the Normandy"

Tears began to fall down Liara's cheeks, though they were tears of joy rather than sadness.

"It sounds like an excellent plan" she whispered, before falling with her to the bed.

* * *

 **Present**

Zaire smiled, a future together with Liara was all she could ask for, now they just had to wait for Miranda to work.

As if summoned by the thought, her Omni-Tool began ringing, Liara groaned, "why aren't you destroying that thing as well?"

Giving a sleepy chuckle in reply, Zaire moved to grab the blasted thing and answered the call.

"Yes?" She grumbled.

"Zaire? It's Miranda, get dressed and get down to my lab, your going to need to see this for yourselves!" Miranda promptly hanged up.

"Well, if that wasn't ominous, I don't know what is" grunted Zaire as she got up.

Liara groaned as she got up as well, hopefully it's just some scientific marvel and we can get back to bed afterwards."

Shepard laughed as she pulled on the rest of her clothes and headed towards the door, "yeah, probably just something that will revolutionize the Galaxy, nothing special."

Liara grinned back, but simply answered with a kiss before opening the door and striding out, "come on, she actually sounded excited."

Multiple hallways and a lift ride later and they entered the Lab that Miranda had commandeered for studying Zaire's cybernetics.

"Good news or bad news?" Asked Shepard.

"Good news, bad news and confusing news" was Miranda's reply.

Zaire shrugged at Liara, "better than I expected, I guess."

Looking at the Ex-Cerberus Operative Liara asked the big question, "is Zaire indoctrinated or not?"

"As far as I can tell?" Miranda smiled "No, she's not."

Both Zaire and Liara sighed in relief, and Shepard leaned against the nearest table for support, suddenly feeling light headed.

"As far as I can tell the implant next to your brain stem is a Biotic Amp, and the other appears to be a gray box of some design."

Looking at Zaire she continued "theoretically you should have total recall, and from your descriptions of past events so far, it backs up my other theory."

"Other theory?" Liara asked, looking slightly worried.

"A lot of your implants and cybernetics are not actively engaged" pausing to think, she summarised, "anything not connected to your health or brain is basically turned off."

"Which would explain why my biotics are limited" concluded Zaire.

Miranda appeared to be shifting slightly, from one foot to the other, and immediately Zaire noticed it. "What else?"

"I left your blood and skin samples overnight for Nikola to analyse, with instructions to look for any abnormalities." At the sound of its own name, the drone appeared.

"I had to double check the results but, well, it's unbelievable" Miranda looked to be almost gushing, which from her was almost unheard of.

The holographic projectors kicked in and images of a humans DNA slowly rotated in front of them, "this is a sample of my DNA that I took this morning" taping her Omni-Tool, the projection changed and a new sample of DNA appeared, "and this is yours as of 2 days ago".

1 thing instantly stuck out to Zaire, the ends of her DNA appeared to be coated with something rather black.

"This is, this is my DNA?" Zaire asked, looking pale.

Miranda nodded, "it's all basically the same as before, your still human Zaire." Realizing that Shepard was still panicking she added "your standard Alliance gene mods literary changed more than this has."

That helped, as Zaire's breathing slowed down and she closed her eyes, attempting to regain some composure while Liara rested her head on her bondmates shoulder, attempting to help.

"What has changed?" Zaire finally decided to ask.

Taking a brief look at her Omni-Tool Miranda continued "the thing that you will really want to know about are the end caps on your DNA, they appear to have been reinforced."

"I'm not qualified in genetics Miranda, English please?" Asked Shepard, still slightly agitated.

Liara however, was far more knowledgeable, and immediately realised the significance of what Miranda was saying.

"How well are they reinforced?" Shaking slightly, gripping Zaire's arm tightly.

"My best guess? Close to your own species Liara" Miranda was smiling at Liara's shocked face while Zaire was getting more and more confused by the minute.

Turning to face Shepard, Miranda explained "the end caps are what determines your natural life span will be, theoretically, your life span is that of an Asari."

"I, holy shit, I, what?"

"The micro-machines Cerberus used were small, but they weren't nano-bots, these however" Miranda gestured at the Holo, and micro machines swam onto screen, "are, and are what's responsible."

Watching the nano machines swim around her DNA a thought occurred to Shepard, causing her to curse.

"Fuck, so this is what Mikhailovich was after, what's one dead hero when you could live for a thousand years?"

Grimacing as well, Miranda nodded in agreement, "that is probably the reason he wanted you under lock and key, yes."

"You also said bad news?" Asked Liara, trying to calm herself.

Miranda grimmised, "intel says the Normandy left Illium last night, after coming from Tuchunka."

"Then they probably know that Shepard is here" stated Liara, looking prepared to panic again.

Shepard was far more composed, "ETA?" She asked, while grabbing Liara's hand to help comfort her.

"They left Illium about 10 hours ago, so we still have another 14 before they can get close enough to track a leaving ship."

Looking far more composed, Liara added in "then we better pack up and move to a new location."

Miranda nodded in agreement, "you two collect you belongings and take the Wanderer, I'll head out later after wiping everything and meet up with Feron instead."

Shepard smiled "then when Ash gets here, all they will find is a refuel station on the way to the Terminus Systems, excellent."

* * *

 _And that's Chapter 6 done, holy crap that was surprisingly hard to write._

 _So Zaire will live a long happy life with Liara, watching their kids growing up in peace ... hah, yeah I'll ruin that in the up and coming chapters._

 _Anyway this chapter is very information heavy, but it needed doing, so Zaire is currently handy capped at the moment due to her cybernetics being switched off, that will be explained later as well._

 _Please feel free to leave a review, I live off those, and they provide great motivation._

 _~ JunkMail_


	7. Chapter 7

~ I don't own mass effect, bioware and EA does ~

* * *

 **06.03.0005 PRW**

 **SSV NORMANDY SR2**

 **Terminus Systems**

James Vega watched as Joker brought the Normandy up to the relay that would take them to their target, personally Vega didn't bother hoping that Shepard was there, she would bug out the moment the Normandy got anywhere near her sector of space and they weren't exactly subtle on Illium.

"Approching Relay-239 now, sending activation signal, sending mass and size, Relay has accepted and is translating now, all crew prepare for mass relay transit."

Vega braced himself slightly as the cockpit window glowed blue as the black giant prepared to throw them hundreds of light years.

EDI's voice joined Jokers in the process, "relay jump in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1"

Through the reinforced window James watched as the stars blurred and the blue tint go white.

"Relay transit in motion ETA 10 minutes to exit."

Vega nodded, "excellent work you two, hit stealth mode the moment we exit the relay, Shepard will probably have an early warning system in place."

Once he received an affirmation from EDI, he turned and headed for the Armoury, he needed to get geared up.

Entering the elevator, James hit the button for the cargo hold, already planning of all the tricks Zaire could throw their way, the elevator paused halfway down and Vega frowned.

"EDI?" He asked.

"Forgive me Commander Vega, but I wished to speak with you alone."

Interest picked, Vega simply shrugged "go on."

"I have been analyzing Zaire's actions while also doing a in-depth analysis of the medical data the Alliance provided, and there appears to be discrepancies, some of the Cybernetics around Zaire's head seem to be Biotic Amp tech, mixed with a very advanced greybox of some description."

"And?" Vega tried not to hope.

"The technology is ... rough, compared to similarly used reaper technology that has been found, the rest of the cybernetics are exactly the same as those of a Biotic Human Husk."

"Are you saying that someone copy and pasted two pieces of different med data together?"

"Basically, yes, I believe that the Alliance medical data is false, edited to look like reaper technology, though I cannot be 100% sure. I wanted to confide in you personally before making any official statements."

"I also have a new theory as to why Shepard has contacted the shadow broker."

Vega grimaced, that particular discovery on Illium had come as a shock to all, though Joker and EDI did seem less shocked and more worried.

The current theory was that Shepard was selling secrets to the broker in the hopes that he could locate T'Soni for her, while she was also unknowingly being coerced by indoctrination as well, as Zaire would only need to slip a few bad secrets to cause chaos.

"Let's hear it EDI, can't be worse than the last one."

"I believe that Shepard has lost faith in the Alliance, and does not trust them to study her cybernetics, she broke out and escaped to find Doctor T'Soni and Miranda Lawson."

"Lawson? I swear I've heard that name somewhere."

"Miranda was one of The Illusive Mans biggest supporters and one of his highest level operatives, she was responsible for project Lazarus, which brought back Zaire Shepard from the dead, and her Father was responsible for Sanctuary."

"You think that Zaire is searching for Cerberus remnants?" Asked Vega, alarmed.

"No, Miss Lawson defected from Cerberus 6 years ago after the Omega 4 relay was traversed, and is one of the few that Shepard has trusted to examine and operate on her."

There was a pause before the AI continued, "theoretically, Miss Lawson is one of the only people in the Galaxy who still knows how Shepard was resurrected and the only ever expert on the cybernetics in Zaire's body, it would make sense of Shepard to seek her out, for her to study the new Cybernetics and conclude whether she is indoctrinated or not."

Vega blew out a breath, if this theory was correct then the Alliance needed to remove some people from service, hell, this could cause the entire Admirality board to have to resign.

"Until we get more evidence, let's keep this to ourselves, thank you for telling me EDI."

"Of course, Commander Vega, logging you out."

The lift started to continue on to the cargo hold, although James could only think of all the complications that this mission, his first mission as an N7, could possibly create.

* * *

 **05.03.0005 PRW**

 **Space Station - The Stop**

 **Terminus Systems**

It had only taken an hour for Zaire and Liara to pack up everything that they owned, as Zaire had been traveling light to begin with and Liara had most of her things off station anyway.

"How could they track you from Tuchunka to Illium?" Liara asked, "Wrex said he didn't say anything."

"Someone else must have seen me, maybe Wrex's brother saw something he wasn't supposed to" was Zaire's reply.

"There, that's everything" stated Liara, as she programmed the hovering bag holder to go to the Wanderer.

"What's next?" Asked Shepard, sitting on the stripped bed.

"We should head down to the Armory and collect my armour and weapons"

Liara paused a moment before adding, "we should probably get you some armour as well."

Shepard grimaced but nodded, being prepared was a necessity in her messed up life.

They followed the path the baggage carrier had taken and entered the elevator, and Zaire hit the button for the 6th floor, which contained both long term cargo storage and the Armory.

As the doors shut and the elevator started moving Liara's Omni-Tool pinged, looking down at it, the Asari frowned, before typing in a reply.

"Problem?"

The Asari shook her head, "a old Turian Battle Cruiser has entered the system and has requested refueling, normally this wouldn't be enough to bring suspicion but I have had the station on high alert for unusual incoming vessels."

"The Cruisers affiliation?" Asked Shepard.

"The Blue Suns, apparently, though I have put security on alert in case it's a ruse."

Shepard nodded before smiling at the expression on her Asari's face, she always looked cute when she was concentrated on something she found annoying.

That thought was promptly forgotten as the entire station rocked and the sounds of explosions ripped their way though metal.

The elevator immediately died and automatically locked itself into place to prevent any accidents, and Shepard and Liara gripped the railings and the station continued to rock with explosions.

Hitting her Omni-Tool Liara yelled an order for an update, and was promptly told by a Turian that the Cruiser had opened fire on the docks and was destroying any docked ships on station.

It barely took seconds for Zaire to realise the next part of the Cruisers plan, "Li, their going to send boarding craft to air locks and escape pods."

Apparently agreeing with her assessment Liara passed on orders to secure primary areas of the station and prepare for boarding before cutting the comm.

"We need to get to the Armory."

Agreeing with that statement, Zaire climbed up to the roof of the elevator and pushed open the maintenance hatch, hauling herself up she turned and helped her girlfriend up as well.

Taking a brief look at the markings on the walls the Asari pointed up, "two floors to the Armory."

Feeling out her limited biotics Zaire lowered her mass and grabbed the edge of the elevator shaft, her partner doing the same.

Knowing that the climb will take a few minutes Zaire decided to plan, she knew that The Wanderer was destroyed, along with the other ships in the docking bay, so they would need a new mode of transportation, pausing to think Zaire realised that the only working ship in system was the enemy Cruiser.

"How many combat capable people can you get together in 20 minutes?"

Liara looked puzzled but answered "probably 40 or so, why?"

"Because we need to get off this damn station, and the only way out of this system is on that bloody Cruiser."

"What?!"

"Li, we have 40 people, that's just enough to take a fully staffed Battle Cruiser if we need the original crew alive."

"That's if we have 40 people Zaire, and how do we get that many people onto said vessel?"

"Same way they got on board, and we don't need the original crew."

"We don't?"

"Who's ship's did they just blow up in the docks?"

Liara grinned when she caught on, the crews lounge was separate from the docks and they would be pissed that their ships were destroyed, it was perfect.

Reaching level 6, Zaire got to work prying the doors open while Liara got to work on getting their plan going.

Eventually getting annoyed Shepard simply punched her fists into the doors, embedding them, and used the new hand holds as leverage to pry the God damned doors open.

Though Liara didn't say anything, she could tell that the Asari had watched her do it, and it made her cough in embarrassment.

Her own Omni-Tool beeped, and Zaire was glad for the distraction, hitting the button to accept the incoming call.

 _"Zaire!?"_

"Miranda, I'm with Liara, we're both fine" Shepard answered the incoming questions before they could be said.

 _"Good, I've grabbed the physical data and started the deletion process for everything digital, I'm heading after you now."_

"We're at the Armoury suiting up" reported Zaire, heading through the door and taking stock of the weapons and armour.

 _"Then get ready for company, you've got multiple hull breaches on your level!"_

Nodding in response she said out loud, "anything coming our way can be dealt with, worry about your own route getting here."

Hanging up, Zaire turned and entered the Armory, her lover had put on some medium level, Asari based armour and was currently grabbing herself a Heavy pistol and 2 submachine guns.

Heading over to the armour fitting station she spoke, "we have hull breaches on this level, watch the door while I change, love."

Nodding in silent agreement, her Asari moved to an 50 degree angle from the door, pulling out one her SMG's to have at the ready.

Turning back around, Zaire quickly stripped down to her underwear and pulled on the skin tight under armour, before activating the Automated Armour Assistant, which promptly started scanning her and pulling out the correct sized armour Zaire had requested.

As she was armoured she took a moment to think about the loadout she was going to need , her was going to need to compensate for the loss of her swords, and they were going to be in close quarters for the foreseeable future.

The Heavy Armour she had chosen was what Human Special Forces now used, painted completely black, and had the new human helmet design.

After the War ended, multiple people in the Marines and Army complained about the basic helmet design, as the constant need to take it off and put it on meant that many people died due to being taken by surprise.

The answer was, as always when giving a human think tank a simple task, a simple solution, the new helmets contained no glass apart from two small eye holes, which were there incase of loss of power.

The solution was to create a faceplate that could be moved, so that at the press of a button, the person wearing it went from eating lunch, to facing heavy combat with full head protection always worn, whether in space or on the ground. The retractable face plate simply slid upwards, showing the face and giving the soldier preifial vision while still protecting the rest of the head.

The reason that this wasn't introduced sooner was 2 problems: budget costs and technology level.

In order for the soldier to have full vision, micro cameras are planted on the helmet and shoulder pads, with the inside of the faceplate projecting what they saw real-time, this was difficult to create small enough and tough enough cameras that could survive active combat, with the reengineering of reaper technology, however, this tech was minimised and tough enough to be implemented in the Special Forces.

The Armour clicked into place and the helmet was presented to her, taking it she turned to the wall of guns and started walking towards it, placing the helmet on her head.

The reinforced Titanium doors buckled and exploded inwards, missing both her and her lover, and smashed into the gun wall, destroying most of the present inventory.

Spinning to face the now considerably wider door frame, Zaire watched as three humanoids in heavy armour charged in, spraying shotgun rounds in her and Liara's direction.

Liara returned the favor, using her new SMG to take down the lead hostiles shields before hurling a heavy warp, which struck his helmet and crushed it like a tin can.

Zaire hadn't been idyll either, and by the time her lover had taken out the first hostile she had crossed the room, aiming for the only female of the group.

Time slowed for Zaire as she closed in and she easily moved out of the way as her opponent tried to shoot her with a Eviscerater shotgun, idly in the back of Shepard's mind she wondered how fast she was really moving.

Watching as her opponent attempted to correct her mistake, she turned to the other male of the group and brought her foot down into the weak point in his armoured knee cap.

He crumpled, and on the way down she drought her fist up into the faceplate of his blank helmet, sending him into a awkward backflip and rendering him unconscious.

Turning back towards her original target she batted the gun upwards forcing her equally blank opponent to shoot the ceiling, Shepard followed up with two powerful jabs to the ribs, before spinning around to face her opponents armoured back, she lashed a kick out at her exposed legs making her fall to one knee, gripping the helmet in both hands Zaire twisted and broke the woman's neck.

After a few more seconds of watching the bodies hitting the floor, time seemed to catch up with Shepard, as everything sped up to normal again. Taking a moment to steady herself, Zaire flexed her hands and rolled her shoulders.

"Zaire?"

Snapping out of her trance, Zaire looked up at her startled girlfriend, who was starring at her, though whatever expression on her beautiful face was masked by the high tech faceless helmet she wore.

"... yes?"

The Asari's helmet split as the faceplate slid up and back, exposing her lovers face, which was currently set in that of astonishment.

"I think your cybernetics are a little bit more online than Miranda thought."

Turning to look at her handy work, Shepard couldn't help but grimace, now that she had started to process things normally again she realised that the colour scheme was familiar.

Snatching up the Eviscerater, Zaire strode over to the only surviving member of the 3 that entered and ripped off his helmet.

Memories of indoctrinated Cerberus troops and the Reapers Cybernetic thralls dominated Zaire's mind as she stared at what once had been a human male.

"Goddess have mercy on his soul, for he received none here."

Zaire found that that sentence summed up this perfectly, the obvious Cybernetics that had been implanted were defiantly reminiscent of the Reapers own work, however, the shining metal and neat perfection of the eyes and ears made it clear these were more copy and paste than original.

The only symbol on the white washed armour the poor sod wore was a small logo, a two headed dog, one head looking left, the other right and encased in a circle, all black.

"I don't like the look of this, Li." Stated Zaire, feeling light headed and probably pale if the helmet didn't obscure her face.

In response she gave the trooper a good kick, which did a good job of waking him up.

He groaned and opened his eyes, which while human, still glowed bluish around the edges.

"Name and number?" Ordered Shepard, going for the pissed off drill instructor feeling.

"John Armstice 3254-D-2546"

His eyes widened when he realised that he had made a mistake, and screamed, "Long Live Orthius."

Shepard, realising his intentions, tackled Liara to the ground as the unknown soldier detonated his own grenades, blowing up himself and most of the floor around him up.

"We need to get moving" coughed Liara, who was pressing the hidden button to seal her helmet to get away from the smoke.

"Agreed, that was an Alliance standard breaching method, so they were all probably former Alliance."

Picking themselves up they made their past the hole in the floor and the dead bodies, and peeked out into the storage room proper, no sign of movement, so they headed for the elevator shaft again, were they could move to a different floor and find Miranda.

Coming up to the last container before the elevator, Zaire stopped and listened, the sound of moving feet indicated at least 5 people were guarding their escape path.

Keying in her radio Zaire muttered "around 5 hostiles guarding the elevator shaft, probably waiting for back up, you flank round to the other side and we can hit them both from different angles."

Her lover simply nodded before turning and quietly moving around the large metal container, looking to gain some higher ground.

Zaire herself checked her shotgun and prepared to rush, she would need to be quick in order to remove the number advantage.

Getting a quiet "ready" from Liara, Shepard counted down from 5, on one Liara rose from her hiding place on top of one of the containers and fired her heavy pistol.

As every guard made the mistake of looking in the direction of the incoming fire, Zaire burst around the corner and sprinted towards the group of 5 people in white and black armour.

They didn't notice her until she was on top of them, using her shotgun to batter the first soldier, she turned and fired twice, taking out the two who had lost their shields due to Liara's own fire.

The last two turned and fired at Shepard, but she had already taken cover in the elevator door frame.

Leaning around she fired again, taking down another's shields, Liara finishing him off with a head shot, the last guy realised that he was out numbered and out skilled so he simply started throwing grenades.

Instead of backing into cover or retreating, Zaire stepped out of cover, and swung her gun like a baseball bat, knocking one of the grenades back towards the thrower and killing him seconds later when the grenade went off.

"You okay Li?"

"I'm fine, come on, I've let Miranda know that the Armory is gone."

Zaire nodded to her partner, before turning and putting her last shotgun round into the woman who she had battered down earlier.

Getting back into the elevator shaft, they repeated the process of lightning their mass and climbing up, heading for the 9th floor.

* * *

 _Cliff hanger! Will Shepard make it out before Williams gets there?_

 _I don't know, I haven't thought that far ahead yet, LoL._

 _Anyway, thank you as always for reading, please feel free to review as it motivates me to get this done. (If I write more than 2 chapters in the week I will post early)_

 _I hoped you enjoyed_

 _~ JunkMail_


	8. Chapter 8

~ I don't own mass effect, bioware and EA does ~

* * *

 **05.03.0005 PRW**

 **Terminus Systems - The Stop**

 **Miranda Lawson**

"Bloody stairs" Miranda Lawson muttered to herself as she met the next set of stairs, she was unable to get the damn elevator doors open, so she was having to climb 7 levels while dodging enemy patrols.

After Zaire and Liara blew up most of the Armoury, suiting up for combat was impossible, so she applied stealth instead, looking to meet up with the couple on the 9th floor and move to the vault, which was where the remaining security had set up, protecting 50 or so angry crew who were eager to get their hands on the Battle Cruiser floating outside.

She shook her head, trust Shepard to come up with a bloody brilliant plan that was simultaneously insane, 'still' she thought 'this works and we end up with a Battle Cruiser and we can leave these idiots stranded'.

Deftly disappearing as a 5 man team runs past, she notes their speed and direction, the same place she was going, damnit, this was like the Collector base all over again, it was going to get explosive soon.

Tapping her Omni-Tool she called Liara.

 _"Miranda?"_

"Heads up, a 5 Man team heading towards the vault, I'm on level 8, where are you?"

In response there was a hollow knock on the elevator doors behind her, she smiled.

"Think you could get those doors open?"

 _"Not without making a racket and alerting everyone on the entire floor."_

Zaire added her own thoughts to the conversation.

 _"We can hear gunfire coming from the next floor up, it should cover the noise we would make, though you will need to make sure that no one is on the other side when we open the doors."_

"Sounds like a plan."

Transferring her call to text she closed her Omni-Tool, and continued to the stairs before carefully making her way up towards the 9th floor.

Reaching the open door way, she gave a quick peek towards the elevator doors and cursed inwardly.

Two people in medium level armour were standing on either side of the doors, the moment Zaire tried to get them open she would be shot to pieces.

Quickly typing into her Omni-Tool, she told them about the issue, the reply asked if any others were nearby, which after a quick look she answered in the negative.

The final reply simply made her sigh in resignment, yep, collector base all over again.

Bracing herself in the stair well, she sent the Zaire her agreement.

The guards standing outside the elevator doors jumped as a loud knock ringed out from behind them.

Spinning around to face the noise they kept their guns trained on the doors, one of them turned to the other, clearly asking something, though what ever it was, was cut short when the elevator doors crumpled inwards with biotic force and sent flying away, taking the two guards with them.

The sound of tearing steel and the crash of two people in armour hitting the wall at several kilometers per hour, echoed down the hallways of the entire floor.

The gunfire stopped for a few seconds, as their owners pause at the loud noise, but abruptly started again after a grenade went off.

Through the shattered and smoking remains of the elevator doors, out walked Zaire Shepard and Liara T'Soni, both looking far too pleased with themselves.

"Could you have made anymore of a racket?" Asked Miranda.

* * *

 **Zaire Shepard**

"Could you have made anymore of a racket?"

Zaire smiled behind her faceplate and pulled out her grenades, "easily, like this!"

Spinning round and throwing one down the hallway, catching the merc who had come to investigate the noise and sending him flying back the way he came with a scream of pain .

She just caught Miranda mutter, "forget I asked" under her breath.

In response, Zaire laughed as she pulled out her confiscated shotgun, and held it in one hand while placing the second grenade back onto her belt.

Moving towards the next doorway she kept count on how many people were firing guns around the vault, from the sounds of it there were around 20 or so firing on one side, with 10 to 15 on the other.

Setting a quick pace, Zaire moved past the body of the Merc she had killed with the grenade and followed the signs telling her which way lead to the vault.

Rounding another steel wall, Zaire got the first look at the situation before smoothly back tracking around the corner, checking her shotgun she spoke into her radio.

"18 mercs assaulting the vault, plus 7 bodies indicate original force was 25, Liara, signal your forces that we are engaging from behind."

Her lover nodded and after a few seconds of silence she spoke, "they're aware and waiting."

Turning to face Miranda, Shepard spoke in a no nonsense tone, "stay in cover as much as possible, let me and Li take up most if their fire."

Giving her own nod of understanding, Miranda flared her biotics and created a biotic barrier, Liara doing the same.

Finally turning back towards the gunfire Shepard reactivated her kinetic barriers before she gave some quick orders, "cover is sparse so only fire once everyone has grabbed a piece, after that, weapons free."

And with that Shepard quietly moved round the corner and headed for the cover on the far right of the entrance. Liara kept to the left while moving forward towards some barricades that had been abandoned, while Miranda kept further back but in the middle, preparing to launch biotic warps, singularities and pulls and throws.

Taking a deep breath, Zaire held up her hand, palm flat as she waited, the vaults defenders were currently firing, the fire paused and the mercs took advantage to pop up and return fire.

As the first rounds started heading into the vault Zaire closed her hand into a fist, pushed up and rested her shotgun on the barricade and pulled the trigger.

Her target, one of the male mercs, never saw the armour piercing wedged shotgun round coming, as it entered the back of his armoured head and prayed a mix of metal, bone and brain matter over his nearby comrades.

Taken by surprise, it took them a few seconds to realise that they were exposed, and another of them, also male, was dropped before they turned to face the new threat.

Sadly this only gave Miranda a better target as using the heavy pistol she always kept on her to take down shields and hurl warps at those left exposed.

Liara hadn't been wasting time either, and on her bondmates signal had leaned out from the alcove she had taken cover in to spray concentrated suppressive fire, using her SMG's akimbo, trying to drop the shields that protected them from her and Miranda's powerful biotic attacks.

By the time the mercs realised that they were being attacked from behind and grabbed cover, 5 were already dead and another was bleeding out on the floor, her friends not willing to expose themselves in order to help her.

The 12 remaining mercs split themselves into teams of two in an attempt to face both the defenders and the new attackers at the same time.

Unfortunately for them, the vault's defenders started shooting again taking down another one and destroying the shields of his companions, who was finished by Shepard's shotgun as she steadily advanced towards the mercs position.

As Miranda and Liara each picked off another of their number the remaining mercs must have realised that they were dead if they stayed where they were, and attempted a suicide charge, at Zaire's group.

The six remaining mercs probably expected Zaire to either back up or find cover, so they were unprepared for her when she sped forward, gunning down one of their number at point blank, and using him as a meat shield as she moved forward, firing her shotgun twice more before needing to reload.

Instead, Zaire placed it in its holster and drew her meat shields pistol, a M-6 Carnifex, which she expanded, aimed and fired one handed, taking two more out in seconds.

The remaining two mercs were ensnared in a singularity from Miranda, Liara finishing them off with a warp.

Silence fell as the singularity exploded, sending the chard mercs into the metal wall behind them, killing them instantly.

Opening her faceplate, Liara called out to those in the vault, "all hostiles dead, confirmation code: A-243891!"

A few seconds passed before two Turians and an Asari stepped out, the Asari was clearly the leader with the two Turians as backup, or Lieutenants, Zaire didn't really care at the moment, she stepped up to the only surviving member of the mercs and point blank shot him in the face.

She then stepped around the body and grabbed some of the thermal clips lying around, her shotgun went through them faster than a Hanar went through water.

While she was grabbing ammo, her girlfriend was talking to the Asari Commander, she didn't even recognise her until she went to check on progress.

"Yano L'voke?"

Said Asari Commander turned to face Zaire, her expression irritated, "What do you want human?"

In response Zaire laughed as she removed her helmet completely, exposing her face to the now surprised and similarly laughing Asari.

"The hell are you doing here?" She questioned, giving her a good hug.

Commander Yano L'voke was an old friend of Shepards, as they had met on a cross species training program between the Human Systems Alliance and the Asari Republic Commandos, which had turned into a joint counter attack when Batarian slavers had attacked the colony while their military was away.

After saving the colony and killing most of the slavers and their ships, they had remained fast friends, and had kept in contact when they could.

"I could ask the same, Zaire, I thought you were declared dead?"

In response Zaire snorted, "since when has the Alliance ever been reliable on reporting my death."

That comment caused Liara to snort as well, which also redirected Yano's attention towards Zaire's lover.

"And you must be Liara T'Soni, Zaire has told me a lot about you, and I can assume that you were the one that requested our presence?"

Liara blushed, though she still had a smile on her face and replied, "yes, we were going to meet at the Wonderer" she turned to Zaire, "surprise?"

Zaire laughed again, "nice try T'Soni."

"So" Yano clapped her hands together in a rather Human gesture and asked, "I hear that a Cruiser needs a new crew?"

* * *

 **06.03.0005 PRW**

 **Terminus Systems**

 **SSV NORMANDY SR2**

Spectre Ashley Williams stood in the CIC, watching the progress of the Normandy and going over STG reports on typical Shadow Broker forces.

" _Relay exit in two minutes_ "

"Thank you EDI, do a scan of the system once stealth has been engaged."

" _Affirmative_ "

Ashley sighed, she wondered how the hell Shepard managed to cope with the constant stress as a Spectre, although extremely rewarding, the stress would get to most soldiers of the Alliance.

She gritted her teeth, bloody Shepard, she still didn't know how she was pardoned after working with a terrorist organization for two years, there was no way she was 'resurrected' as she claimed.

Just one more thing to ask after she brought her in, War hero or not she wasn't going to let Shepard wander around the galaxy, spilling secrets of every major allied race to whoever happened to be near her at the time.

The Shadow Broker, on the other hand, was going to be either excellent news, or terrible news, though from the little they could gather on Illium, he was going to be meeting with Shepard face to face.

Catching the Shadow Broker and delivering him to the Citadel Council would be an excellent addition to her record and get her some proper respect, as most people saw her as nothing more than Udina's unsuspecting pet.

" _exiting relay in 3, 2, 1 ... relay transition complete, we are now engaging stealth mode and preparing to scan for refueling stations"_

Williams hit the icon to show the system on the main screen, and as new data slowly started to fill in the gaps, mutters started to spread around the whole CIC.

"EDI, what the hell happened here?"

 _"one moment, scanning and comparing data"_

" _Someone_ _has appeared to have moved through this area and destroyed all space capable vessels, ma'am"_

Williams sighed, "can you tell me what it was and the status of the Space Station were here for?"

 _"The Stop, appears to be relatively intact, though there are multiple hull breaches and the main docking area has been destroyed"_

"And the attackers?"

 _"From the left over emissions I calculate it was most likely a cruiser weight vessel, plus corvette weight vessels much nearer the station, which matches known boarding tactics"_

"Get us closer to the Space Station and see if there are any life signs, I want people to interrogate since Shepard has probably already left."

 _"Yes, ma'am"_

* * *

 **30 minutes later**

 _"no life signs detected, ma'am"_

Williams sighed, Shepard wasn't there, "Hear that Vega?"

 _"Yep, we'll go in weapons hot anyway."_

"Good, once you've done a brief look and ascertained what's happened we'll come in to do a more though search if Shepard's location can't be located."

 _"Roger that, Vega out."_

Ashley cut the transmission and sighed tiredly, where ever Shepard went it seemed, destruction followed in her wake.

"EDI, can you access the station's network, I need security tapes, log books, anything else that can tell us who was here and when."

 _"Negative, the station is hard lined, so I will need someone to physically give me access"_

"Then update Vega on that as well, please."

 _"Yes ma'am"_

"Right, then I'm going to update the Board of Directors, they're going to want an update soon."

 _"Confirmed, Spectre Ashely Williams stands relieved, XO David Heartgrave is in command"_

Sighing in relief Williams stepped down from the command podium and headed for the QEC room, heading through the war room, where multiple people were coordinating the ground team and going over misson data.

Entering the separate room, she hit the button to shut the door behind her, as the conversation was going to have to be private.

"EDI?"

In response the QEC projection flickered to life with the universal please wait sign, with the Spectre seal underneath, straightening herself, Williams set her shoulders and waited.

It only took three minutes for the full Board of Directors to respond to her call.

"Status?" Asked Director Quimius clearly not in the mood for anything other than business.

"As far as we can tell, someone else got here before us and attacked the station, we've found ship wrecks and an abandoned space station with no life signs, I have Vega on it looking for Shepard's location, but I'm not holding out much hope."

"Any idea on the attacker?" This time Dera Von spoke.

"Attack vessel was Cruiser weight and was carrying multiple Corvette weight vessels for boarding, apart from that, I'm waiting on Vega for bodies to identify."

There was a collected pause as everyone as they all processed the information, until finally Director Quimius spoke again.

"How did they know where Shepard was located before you?"

At this Ashley shrugged, "I would assume that they were closer when they got the information than we were, as we weren't very subtle on Illium in our haste."

The collective Directors of the Citadel Armed forces nodded before Director Dera Von spoke again, "contact us if you only need reinforcements, with the Shadow Broker in play we cannot assure operational security, good luck Spectre."

With that the holo shut down as the 4 Directors hung up, Williams blew out a breath she didn't realise she was holding.

"Great, more problems, just what I need."

* * *

 _And that's the end of this chapter, thank you for reading, as always, please review, you 300+ people who I know are reading this!_

 _Anyway, I'm going to have some extra time coming up so I will push to get more chapters out._

 _So please feel free to review and thank you for reading and until then next chapter._

~ JunkMail


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: thank you for reviewing my last chapter, as it gave me the motivation to write, and I managed to get this written within 24 hours, so I decided to post it early as as thank you.

* * *

~ I don't own mass effect, bioware and EA does ~

* * *

 **06.03.0005 PRW**

 **Terminus Systems - The Stop**

 **Commander James Vega**

"Well, that's just creepy."

Vega couldn't have agreed more with Minako's statement, it wasn't every day you find 50+ people lying neatly on the floor of an abandoned space station with no heads.

"Keep sharp, there may be IED's hidden on the bodies."

He got a confirmation light from each of them as they slowly circled the room.

Vega nearly jumped when his radio activated, and one of the mission overseers sounded in his helmet, _"C_ _ommander please advise, there are currently two areas of interest, the command centre on deck 10 and an unknown facility on deck 2."_

"Roger that, we'll head head to the command centre first before going into the unknown, Vega out."

Indicating with hand signals, they made their way to the station's stairs, where they started to go from their current floor to the command deck on the 10th level.

"Yul, you scout ahead, me and Minako will follow 10 seconds behind."

Another green light from both as Lt. Yul Banks activated his cloaking device and vanished from sight.

Turning to his other team mate he patted Lt. Minako Nizshia on the shoulder, and they slowly started their assent to the top deck, taking their time to analyse their surroundings and to search for anything hidden, trying to ignore the occasional body of the station's original occupants, if the casual appearance of their clothes was anything to go off.

When they reached deck 9 however, they spotted Yul at the door leading onto the level, "signs of battle" he stated, pointing at the elevator doors, or what was left of them, embedded into the wall opposite the elevator shaft.

Vega whistled, while Minako took a closer look at the shaft, he decided to look at the doors themselves, when he got closer he couldn't help but wince, the doors had crushed 2 people, both had the same armour as the headless bodies five floors down.

Minako called out from where she was examining the edges of the elevator shaft, "biotics, warped the doors and then launched at speed outwards."

Vega returned to his squad and finished his colleagues assessment, "and crushed the two guards standing in front of them, nasty, but effective if you going for shock and awe."

Shaking his head he continued, "alright, let's get to the Command centre and plug EDI in, hopefully she can tell us more and we can make our way down to the unknown facility on the 2nd deck."

They both nodded and Yul cloaked again as they headed for the stairs.

It only took 5 minutes to get to the 10th deck and the door was already breached, it looked like a quick and brutal fire fight had taken place before the defenders were overwhelmed, the bodies of both traffic controllers and the unknown mercs.

Walking up to the main computer console James pulled out a wireless data tap and inserted it into the computers data port, giving EDI access to the entire setup from the Normandy.

The screens flickered on as they powered up and a list of error messages played across them, all highlighted in red and flashing.

"EDI? You OK?" Asked Vega, concerned with the amount of corrupt data and error reports flashing across the screen.

 _"I am fine, thank you for asking Commander, it appears that the system was wiped around 10 hours ago with a very though virus."_

"Origin?"

 _"Most likely a safe guard installed into the network in case rappid data removal was needed, and most likely activated when the station was attacked."_

"Think you could recover any information?"

 _"Probably, though how much I cannot tell at this time."_

"Right, then while you do that, we'll head to the 2nd deck and find out what makes that floor so special."

Turning to face the door he signaled to the rest of the team, "let's go you two, who knows what we will find down there."

Going down, thankfully, was a hell of a lot quicker than going up, and apart from the occasional body for either crew workers, security, or other unknown mercs, it was all expected.

Though when they reached the 2nd deck they reached a problem, as in, 5 inch thick reinforced Titanium blast doors problem.

"Well there's no way in hell we're going to get through that with anything other than the Normandy's Thanix Cannon."

Vega agreed with Yul, those doors were made out of armour a dreadnoaght used, so no explosives they had would cut through it.

Hitting his radio, Vega called the Normandy, "Normandy, this is Vega, we have reached deck 2 but there are blast doors in the way, got any ideas?"

 _"Commander Vega, this is Normandy, EDI is working on it, standby."_

Seconds ticked by as they waited to see if EDI could patch the system together enough to gain access to the door controls.

Finally after ten minutes of standing around, the red light by the edge of the door turned green, a warning sounded out as the large doors slowly slid open.

Vega didn't know what to expect, dead bodies, operating tables, creepy lighting, but instead the lights flickered on and a white standard medical bay was revealed.

Vega, Banks and Nizshia spread out, with Banks going left, Nizshia going right and Vega up the middle, weapons raised and sweeping slowly for target, ready to shoot anything that may be hiding.

Barely five minutes and three "all clears" later and the three of them met back in the middle of the room, gathering around a holographic interface.

"Vega to Normandy, all clear, looks like a med lab of some sort."

 _"Acknowledged Commander, Spectre Williams will be joining you shortly with the rest of the ground team, Normandy out."_

Sighing, Vega turned to their engineer, Minako, and asked, "start looking for info on the computers, they may have missed something in the rush to exit."

* * *

 **05.03.0005 PRW**

 **Terminus Systems - The Stop**

 **Zaire Shepard**

"Everyone understands what they need to do?"

The 20 armed mercs all nodded, most had never met each other before, but in order to survive, they were happy to follow someone with a plan.

To the left of them were the 10 surviving security guards who called the station home, also nodded in agreement, happy to get revenge on those who had destroyed their home.

And finally to the right were 10 Asari, all former Commandos, lead by Yano L'voke, who had all abandoned the republic after they refused to enter the War, and now were a PMC group and they were more than happy to help.

The plan was simple, L'voke and her Commandos would accompany Shepard and Liara as they stole a Corvette, infiltrated the Battle Cruiser and shut off life support, killing most of the crew and its security, once done the 48 crew of the now destroyed ships in the docking bay would be escorted by the mercs and remaining security onto the Cruiser where they would take control and escape.

"Right, Yano, your people with me, Miranda, keep us updated, let's get this done people!"

The chorus of "yes ma'am" circulated, even the mercs, after Zaire had revealed herself, the amount of people questioning her authority had dropped to Zero, Liara had smiled at the rather intimidated looks on their faces.

The group split up, with those staying behind heading back to defence positions, and Yano's Commandos falling in behind their leader.

Exiting the vault, weapons raised and heads on swivels, Zaire grunted a laugh when she heard Yano mutter, "just like old times" under her breath.

"Good to have you back, L'voke."

* * *

It took 10 minutes to find the exact entry point of one of the Corvettes, killing another 12 of the mercs on the way, and killing three more who were left to guard their ship.

Thankfully the Corvette was undamaged and one of Yano's Commandos knew how to pilot it, which, Shepard realised, could have been a problem for their plan.

The 15 minute ride over to the Cruiser mainly consisted of the Commandos interrogating their leader on why she never told them that she was good friends with a Galactic War Hero, Zaire answering a few more light questions and a rather heart stopping moment halfway through, when the Cruiser asked for identification, which was solved by Zaire when she repeated the name of the Former Alliance Soldier she had tried to interrogate back in the armoury, after deepening her voice, and claimed large amounts of wounded on board in need of medical attention.

The trick worked, and they were allowed to board, and the final minutes were dedicated to loading weapons, silent prayers and checking armour seals.

"30 seconds!" Called the Commando serving as their pilot, and the call was sent down the line, as safeties were switched off.

The Corvette landed with a muted bump, and the Commando shut down the engines before climbing out of the seat to join her sisters in preparation for combat.

"All right!" Called Zaire, "this is a Turian Battle Cruiser, so expect bad cover and automated turrets, your HUD should be updating now with the schematics for you, stay together and watch each others backs, this is going to get interesting."

With that said Shepard hit the emergency release button to the cargo door, which fell to the ground with a thump, and she shot dead the surprised medics standing just outside.

Her gunshots were masked by the loud atmosphere of the bay and Shepard, T'Soni and the Commandos rushed outwards, all heading straight for the closest door into the ship proper.

There were a few shouts of alarm, which were silenced by the the Commandos before they could do anything else, and they hit the door running.

Turian interior Ship design was based on being as difficult as possible for boarders to navigate and to give the best advantage to the defenders, however, if you have memorized the basic layout, and have an up to date map, then the first point was neutralized, the second point was rendered mute due to the fact that the crew didn't know that they were aboard yet, giving Zaire the element of surprise.

Keeping the pace at a fast jog, Zaire was prioritizing speed over stealth, with cameras everywhere it was only a matter of time before someone noticed, and she wanted to be as close to life support as possible when that happened.

Turning left Zaire spotted two crew walking towards her, and only gave them enough time to look surprised before she headshots both of them, the noise obviously disturbed someone, as they poked their head out to see what was going on, only to be shot himself by Liara a second later.

They were almost there before an automatic turret popped out of the ceiling, spraying the hallway with rounds, not slowing down, Liara and the Commandos generated a biotic barrier around the turret, deflecting the rounds back at itself and destroyed by its own fire.

"They know we're here, keep going and watch you corners." Yelled Zaire, switching to her shotgun for more fire power.

Half way down the next corridor, two more mercs in armour appeared at the other end, and immediately started firing at her. The biotic barrier held in place until they were close enough, and Zaire fired twice, knocking out the shields of both troopers, and they were finished off by Yano with her assault rifle.

"Life support should be around the corner!" Called Yano, looking at her Omni-Tool in confirmation.

Zaire turned the corner, and promptly dived back around again as a hail of shotgun, assault rifle and pistol fire peppered the wall behind her.

"2 with shotguns, 3 with assault rifles and the two others with pistols are biotics."

"Anything else?" Asked L'voke, looking irritated by the sudden stop.

"Two auto turrets, and the troopers have armoured cover."

"Great" sighed Liara, "plan?"

"Conventionally? No, but flanking would be best" responded L'voke.

"And how do you flank in a straight hallway?"

"By going through the walls" realised Zaire, pulling out her Omni-Tool to look at the map.

"Here" she pointed, "go straight through this wall and we come out in life support."

Yano nodded in agreement, and gave the signal to retreat. They pulled back towards the last junction, killing two more who were attempting to flank from behind and moved towards a maintenance hatch, going through and entering a small room full of monitoring equipment and offshoot maintenance halls.

Walking up to the far wall Shepard checked her Omni-Tool, before nodding at Yano, who turned and gestured to two of her Commandos who stepped up towards the wall, flaring their biotics in preparation.

Everyone else stepped back and Liara raised a biotic barrier around herself and Zaire, incase of shrapnel.

With a gesture, one of the Commandos created a warp field in the centre of the wall, heating it up as the contradicting mass effect fields fought each other, and the other Commando drew back a fist and thrust forward, launching a strong biotic push at the warp field.

The biotic attacks collided and exploded inwards taking with it most of the wall and creating a large hole where the metal wall was before.

As soon as the biotic fields died the Commandos rushed in, killing two stunned mercs who were on the other side, the 3 other bodies already on the floor indicating that they were too close to the unexpected explosion.

As Zaire and Liara stepped into life support the Commandos rushed up to the main entrance and started firing at the surprised backs of the mercs who had stopped them from coming in through the entrance.

Liara was already over by the controls, bringing up systems and cutting power to the circulatory vents throughout the ship. Zaire, however, was keeping an eye on the hole they had come through, as it was now the biggest hole in their defence.

"Check seals!" Called Liara, turning to face Zaire.

One by one the Commandos confirmed that they were air tight and Liara hit something on the control panel. It was now a matter of time for air to run out, and Zaire knew that most of the crew would be dead in minutes.

The mercs in armour, however, were most likely in space certified armour and would have to be killed the old fashioned way of guns and biotics.

Hitting her radio Zaire called Miranda, who answered a moment later, with gunfire sounding in the background.

"Life support is offline, the crew will be mostly dead in a few minutes, start making your way to the designated airlock, we will meet up after securing the hanger bay."

After getting an acknowledgement from Miranda, Zaire turned to face her lover, and signaled that they were ready for the next part of the plan.

Yano and her Commandos would stay and defend life support, while Zaire and Liara would take the Commando who could pilot and head back to the hanger bay, grab a bigger ship and return to the station to pick up the Cruisers new crew and enough people with guns to clear the ship of unwanted stow-aways.

Walking back to the hole they made they met up with the pilot, who's name was Lin'raha or Lin for short and quietly headed out, hopefully avoiding the mercs trying to retake life support.

It took 10 minutes of slow moving in dark maintenance halls in order to get back to the hanger, where every once in a while they would come across dead bodies of the crew who hadn't had time to find oxygen.

They hanger had been abandoned, probably as soon as the crew realised that oxygen was no longer pumping throughout the ship, and they remained the sole occupants as they located and boarded a docked Frigate.

Due to the bigger engines of the Frigate it only took 8 minutes to arrive at the preplaned airlock, and were met with a war zone when they opened the airlock, as Miranda's forces been forced to defend with little cover and greatly appreciated Zaire and Liara as they helped defend against over 40 of the mercs trying to stop them as the crews and security boarded.

By the time everyone was onboard and the Frigate has gotten away Zaire was exhausted, leaning against the nearest bulkhead with Liara, she watched the crew congratulating itself on surviving and the injured security and mercenaries patch themselves up.

"Told you my plan would work."

"I never said it wouldn't."

* * *

 _Another chapter done, thank you to those who Reviewed, it provides great motivation, case in point this chapter was finished on Friday._

 _So thank you for reading and until the next chapter,_

 _~ JunkMail_


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Hello everyone! As some of you no doubt realised, I posted a chapter early last week and then promptly stopped, I apologize, I got distracted by something shiny, anyway, this is the next chapter, enjoy!

Note: In this AU I decided that Liara and Shepard would discover Liara's father after the War, as it gives me a bit more freedom on Aethyta personality and views, so Aethyta never appeared in my personal version of ME.

* * *

~ I don't own mass effect, bioware and EA does ~

* * *

 **06.03.0005 PRW**

 **Terminus Systems - The Stop**

 **Spectre Ashely Williams**

Walking past the heavy blast doors, Ashley Williams took her first look at what they had uncovered.

Medical and scientific equipment was spread around, with her and Vega's teams scouring the place for clues as to what happened and where their targets went.

"EDI? Update please."

"I've managed to piece together some of the medical data, and some of the security tapes were recoverable, apart from that, most data was destroyed."

"Everything?"

"I'm currently trying to piece together the the station's memory banks, they should have storage data on who was in system and when."

"Keep up the good work"

"Thank you ma'am"

Walking over to Vega she sat in one of the empty swivel chairs next to the desk computer he was navigating.

"What do we have?"

In response to the question, James pulled up the security tapes for the room they were in.

"Wait, is that Liara?"

Williams quickly spotted her former colleague, and who was standing next to her.

"Cerberus!"

Ashley growled, she remembered this woman, she was on Horizon with Shepard when the Collectors had attacked, obviously Shepard had never completely cut ties with the terrorist organization, contradictory to what she had said after the Alpha Relay incident.

"Do we know what was said?"

Vega sighed, "no, the audio was completely corrupted, we are lucky that EDI managed to get what she did, though we have a bigger problem than the Cerberus agent."

Gesturing towards the main holo projector in the middle of the room, he continued.

"There was a separate hard drive for the Holographic projector, Lt. Nizshia managed to recover what was on it and, well, you need to see this."

Getting up, Vega lead Ashley to the Holographic projector and motioned towards it, causing it to power up.

"EDI, show her what you showed me."

In response, EDI appeared, using the Holographic projectors to create the illusion that she was physically present.

"Of course, Commander Vega."

With a wave of her hand Zaire's medical data appeared next to her, slowly spinning with small notes being highlighted and magnified.

"This is the medical data that the Alliance supplied us on Zaire's cybernetics, which at first glance appears to be Reaper tech."

With another wave, the head detached from the body and drifted away, leaving the body slowly spinning.

"However, when I did a thorough investigation of the medical data, I came across something odd. There are discrepancies, this is one of them."

With a click of her virtual fingers, a second set of data appeared next to Zaire's, identical except in hight and width.

"They're completely the same" muttered Williams.

EDI nodded in agreement with Williams assessment, though her face remained that of grimness.

"The one on the left is a biotic human husk, as you can see, they are identical."

Vega, however, spotted something "the head is different."

With another wave, the bodies disappeared leaving the husks head behind, and the head from the Alliance data reappeared.

"The head is different though, the cybernetics are not invasive, more supplementary, and the tech is slightly different as well. It's rougher, more unrefined than any other reaper technology that I've seen."

"And how is this relevant now?"

At Ashley's question EDI simply smiled, and clapped her hands together, causing for the previous data to disappear, only to be replaced by new data.

It showed a cybernetic human female, but the tech was unlike anything else that Williams had ever seen.

Lucieus was the first to recover, his mandible twitching in amusement, "well that's a lot of Gold."

Merbon grunted in agreement, though Enigma quickly walked up to the projection, the eye piece swiveling as if to focus in.

"Note: Cybernetics similar to reaper technology, however, head cybernetics are the same as those of Shepard Commander."

EDI nodded, "this is the medical data that I managed to recover from the computers here, it's a full body scan of Zaire Shepard, dated 86 hours old."

Slowly walking towards the projection, Ashely asked "are you saying that-"

"That the Alliance lied about the cybernetics in Shepard's body, yes."

"Well, crap."

Merbon snorted at Vega's statement.

"EDI, from this data can you tell me of Shepard's condition?"

EDI quirked an virtual eye brow at the question.

"You mean if I can tell whether or not Zaire has been indoctrinated?"

"Yes" grounded out Williams.

"No, she's not, and from the looks of it, the Alliance should have realised this years ago."

"The Alliance knew that Shepard wasn't indoctrinated?" asked Williams, trying to rap her head around the reasons for such a big lie.

"Correct, the cybernetics in her body are supplementary, designed to aid the body and increase natural abilities, not invade and reperpus."

The Holo zoomed in on some of the cybernetics in Shepard's heart and lungs.

"Here for example, the cybernetics are helping to refine the oxygen and appear to be resistant to chemicals, likely poisons and other gases."

Banks pointed at Shepard's heart, "and what is the cyberware doing to her heart?"

With another wave the Holo complied and zoomed in further, showing Zaire's heart, surrounded by thin gold threads.

"I believe that the cybernetics are helping to regulate blood flow, perhaps also moderating hormones and other body chemicals."

Ashley listened carefully, these were serious modifications, from the looks of it, Zaire was over 40% cybernetic now, well over the legal limit of 30%.

"Anything else?" She asked, wondering how much of Shepard's soul was left after all the modifications done.

"Apart from the subdermal plating, it's all basic cybernetic improvement."

"She has subdermal armour plating?" Asked Lucieus, astonished.

"Yes, around her wind pipe, heart, lungs, skull, armpits and the back of her knees."

"Weak points for Human Organs and Armour, Jesus Christ she is going to be difficult to contain."

Vega interrupted any other questions, "anything else we should know?"

In response EDI pulled up a picture of a Humans DNA, with what looked like small Hexagons swimming around it.

"You will want to sit down for this bit."

* * *

 **07.03.0005 PRW**

 **Terminus Systems**

 **Stolen Turian Battle Cruiser**

"So, where are we headed?" Asked Yano L'voke, walking with Zaire across the command deck in the CIC, heading for the main elevator.

"Aria owes me a favour or two, so we'll head to Omega, I'll talk to her, I'm sure that there are a couple private docks we can use to hide the ship."

Yano nodded, and entered the elevator, hitting the button for the ship's hanger bay, "what about our temporary crew?"

"Most will be getting off once we dock, they can find transportation to anywhere in the Galaxy from there."

"I assume that Liara is working on getting a more permanent crew together?"

"She already has the people, she's just trying to be discrete about getting them to Omega without drawing attention."

The elevator was taking its time, and Zaire couldn't help but groan in frustration.

"What is it with Turian Elevators and going as slow as possible?"

L'voke chuckled at her human friends obvious frustration, it really was good to see her acting like herself again, from the short messages she had received from Zaire during the War, she had been struggling with depression and stress.

Clearly she was overcoming it, though she had no doubt that she had nightmares still, Goddess knows they all did.

"It to prevent boarders from moving quickly and catching them by surprise, they're apparently also more durable."

"They're still slow as a fucking Elecor, seriously, we didn't have any problems with elevators when we boarded."

L'voke smiled, and stayed quiet, though after a few seconds passed she snuck a glance at her friend.

"How's Liara?"

Shepard sighed, "stressed, exhausted, but refuses to rest, she trying to find some information on this 'Orthius' group."

The Asari hummed in agreement, though she still gave a sideways glance before asking, "nothing enticing her to bed?"

Zaire couldn't help herself, she burst out laughing, "what is it with you Asari and sex? Seriously it's either politics or sex with you lot."

"We Asari are far more sophisticated that that, Primitive." The smile on her face told Zaire that her friend was just playing.

Shepard just snorted, "have you seen a Matriarch's dress, they show the same amount of cleavage as Aria's strippers."

The Asari's lips drew back into a smirk, "of course, what do you think stripper costumes are based on these days?"

The elevator doors opened and the Asari stepped out, turned and spoke, "I know a few extranet sites if you want to buy a few!"

In response Zaire gave her the middle finger as she hit the button for the crew deck, cutting her friend off mid cackle.

Zaire simply chuckled, Yano hadn't changed a bit, bloody oversexed Commando. Still, she had a point, Liara was working too hard, and now that Zaire knew she wasn't indoctrinated, her and Liara could properly start to fix their relationship.

Though Zaire was optimistic, she also had to think, every time they continued their relationship, Liara got hurt, either directly because of her leaving, or because she wasn't there for her.

The Reapers were gone however, and the Galaxy could survive without her for a few decades, she needed time to fix herself and her problems, and if this new council didn't like it, they could kiss a black hole.

* * *

 **10 Minutes later**

"Serial numbers match that of the Turian Battle Cruiser: THV Unbreakable Spirit, it was declared destroyed during the battle over Earth five years ago."

"Thank you Glyph, look into possible ways and locations It could have been repaired from."

"Yes, Doctor T'Soni."

Liara sighed in frustration, Orthius, at best was a rumor, nothing solid existed, not yet at least, the Shadow Broker network was slowly recovering its old power, but until then there were gaps, and that was dangerous.

Her thoughts were temporally distracted as the door to her temporary quarters opened and Zaire walked though, bringing a smile to her face.

"Zaire."

Her bondmate smiled at her, giving her a small rush. It was still slightly serial to her, less than 8 days ago and she could barely stand thinking about her bondmate without intense emotional pain. Now Zaire was back, and despite everything else going on, she hadn't been happier in years.

"Course is set for Omega, we'll be there in 3 days, which gives us plenty of time to catch up."

The look in Zaire's eyes made it clear what her lover had in mind, and Liara couldn't help but shiver slightly in anticipation and grin in anticipation of the next few hours.

"Let me finish up and set glyph into standby mode and we can get started on that 'catching up' of yours."

Spinning around on her seat to face the screens again, Liara quickly closed and saved her work on tracking Orthius, also setting a reminder in glyph to see what the Alliance Admirality board was getting up to.

She sighed as a pair of pale arms wrapped around her abdomen and felt Zaire rest her chin on her shoulder, looking at her work as she saved her notes to review later.

"Hang on, who's the Justicar?" Asked Zaire, pointing out the file Liara had been reviewing less than an hour ago.

Liara grimaced, she had hoped to talk about it after a good night's rest, but now was as a good time as any.

"Her name is Justicar Sey'sa Ralas , She was a Huntress before she joined the Justicar Order, she is one of the few who still actively hunt Ardat-Yakshi."

Liara quickly pulled up two other files next to the Justicars, both were also Asari.

"And them?"

"The one on the left is Moeso T'raoza, a former Commando who now works for the Republic as a wet work operative who knows how to keep it quiet."

"And the last one?" Inquired Zaire, when her lover fell silent.

"Matriarch Aethyta Vasir, a skilled biotic and Blademistress, former Commando and Huntress, and is currently working as one of the Republic's SpyMasters."

"And what's different about her than all the rest?" Shepard asked, easily knowing that this Vasir is clearly better than the last of the clan to go up against them.

"She's my Father."

There was a slight pause in Zaire's movements, before muttering quietly, "you mean the one that buggered off before your birth and your mother never wanted to talk about?"

Liara smiled, despite the topic, "yes, that father, apparently she owns bars from Illium and the Citadel all the way to Omega."

"And why have these three caught you attention, love?"

Liara sighed, "they have been tasked by the Council of Matriarch's to hunt us down and capture or kill us, and remove any hint of your new found age limit."

There was another pause as Shepard took in the new problem, before voicing her first question.

"How the hell do they know about my slower aging, I thought we destroyed all of the data back at The Stop?"

Liara sighed again, "EDI was able to recover most of the medical data that we created, though thankfully she appears to have had a worse time trying to get security tapes, thankfully."

"And EDI told Ashley, who told the Goddamned Citadel Council, who then told the Asari Council of Matriarch's, great, who _doesn't_ know yet?"

At that, Liara couldn't help but giggle, Zaire's hatred for the Old Council was Legendary, though personally Liara liked to think that the New Council was an improvement, there were still flaws to be fixed.

In answer to her lovers question she replied, "The Alliance has been successfully kepted in the dark, and the Citadel Council is sending a few Spectre's to help the Alliance's Internal Investigations unit in finding out what's going on."

Zaire groaned in annoyance, clearly not expecting anything to come out of it.

"Like the Council will do anything about it."

"The new Council is far better than the old one love, I assure you."

Zaire snorted in response, "if they do find out anything and actually respond properly, I'll be pleasantly surprised, if not, then it will be expected."

Liara internally admitted that, that was probably going to be as good as she was going to get from her bondmate on the issue.

"There is something that I find odd though" commented Zaire.

"And what's that?" Asked Liara, curious as to what her bondmate could possibly find interesting in all of this political mess.

"Your father"

Liara internally groaned, this was going to be a difficult thing for Zaire to accept.

"What about her?"

"Why would the republic send your father after us? I would have thought that she would be against the heavy response."

With a sigh of sadness, Liara turned to face her lover, as this was going to be a uncomfortable conversation.

"Aethyta is coming because she has publicly advertised her, distaste, for your actions before, and during the War."

There was a slight pause, before Zaire finally responded with a "what?"

"Apparently Aethyta had been keeping tabs on me, even before I met you, and she personally disagreed when you took me to Novaria and Ilos, she was also alarmed by my swap of interest in archaeology to information brokering, which she has now blamed on you as well."

Zaire angrily got up and started to pace, clearly agitated by the news.

Liara watched, sadly knowing that Zaire was now going over every mission they had gone on, every moment they had together, and wondering whether Aethyta was right or not. Liara decided not to give her bondmate the chance.

Standing up, she quickly grabbed her bondmate and kissed her, thoroughly. Only backing down when air became a priority, and stared into Zaire's eyes, easily seeing the personal war raging behind them.

"What ever choices you think you made for me, I made plenty more alongside you, and even more when you were gone, Aethyta blames you because she refuses to blame herself for her mistakes, that is something that you have no control over."

Zaire simply nodded, clearly still torn, but the war behind her eyes lessened, her words having the desired effect.

Smiling to herself, Liara turned and shut off her monitors, ending the topic and turning towards a more ideal situation.

"Now I'm going to bed, are you going to stay here and argue with yourself, or join me?"

Not waiting for an answer, Liara span around and headed towards the bedroom, swinging her hips far more than usual, knowing fully well that it drove Zaire mad when she did it.

Her lover didn't disappoint, and Liara giggled as Zaire practically ran after her, not slowing down as she tackled her onto the bed, biotics flaring around them both.

The giggles transforming into moans as Zaire latches her lips onto her neck, gently biting and sucking while her biotics caused their bodies to tingle at the close contact.

As they kissed their hands roamed, both searching for the spots that the other liked.

Zaire however, quickly grew impatient and her hands started to search for the buckles and clasps that kept Liara's clothes on.

Feeling Liara at the edge of her mind, Zaire looked back up to her lovers face, quickly discovering that her eyes had become obsidian black, and in response to the silent question of permission, kissed her Asari, giving it.

Emotions not her own but quickly combining, Zaire asked through the link how to get her clothes off without excessive force.

With quick guidance Liara lost her outer clothing and was left in her bra and panties, though before Zaire could deal with the final obstacles, Liara, in a rare display of dominance, flipped Zaire over, gripped her lovers shoulders and started on Zaire's own clothes.

The shear predatory hunger Liara was showing through their link was incredible as it was arousing, stering similar desires in Zaire.

 _"God, I've missed you T'Soni."_

 _"Shut up and kiss me."_

Before Zaire could comply however, everything turned to darkness.

* * *

 _thank you for reading this chapter, as always if you have questions, ideas or anything else please feel free to review, it will hopefully stop me from being distracted by shiny objects._

 _Until the next chapter,_

 _~ JunkMail_


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Well this chapter is on time, that's a relief, anyway, I'm just going to put here a big thank you! As when this chapter goes up this story will have a total of 6,000 views, so thank you to every single one!

* * *

~ I don't own mass effect, bioware and EA does ~

* * *

 **12.03.** **05 PRW**

 **The Citadel**

 **Private Council Chambers**

Councillor Osoba sighed in acceptance, the report that the Spectre's had sent back after they had a chance to review the evidence was troubling, very troubling. The Admirality board was quietly funneling vast amounts of Credits and resources into multiple different projects that were meant to have been shelved before the War, the fact that money was going in and nothing was apparently coming out was what worried him the most.

Combined with the fact that they had lied about the Cybernetics in Shepard's body meant that the Alliance needed to clean house, as there was clearly more going on than anyone was aware of.

It was now a matter of collecting evidence and political maneuvering in order to fix it quietly, without causing doubt in the public about the trustworthiness of the Alliance.

His focus returned to the outside world when the main door opened to allow in Councillor Irissa who, from the look on her face, was extremely agitated by something.

"Irissa" he said in greeting, giving a nod of recognition.

The Asari Councillor smiled back, giving her own nod as she sat down in her chair, pouring herself a drink of Thessian Wine.

They were soon joined by QEC; Councillor Shila'Ran, Councillor Kari Varn and Councillor Vail Quentius, Councillor Esheel entering through the same door as Irissa had come through.

After everyone had greeted everyone else, they quickly got onto the main topic: Zaire Shepard.

"Its going to be messy no matter how this pans out, Shepard had serious issues with the Old Council, and to her, we are no different, she will ignore our authority or keep away from Council Space, and to be honest, until the Alliance has been sorted out and everything has a chance to cool down, that's probably going to be in our best interest."

Osoba Sat back, wanting to gain some understanding of the rest of the Councils stance on the issue.

Councillor Vail Quentius was the first to speak up, leaning forward in his chair as spoke.

"That's it? Ignore one of the most deadly and influential people in the Galaxy? No, I say we see if we can contact the Broker, get hold of Shepard through him and talk to her, at least let her tell us her side of the story, it will immediately improve our standing with her, if nothing else."

Councillor Shila'Ran nodded in agreement, speaking up herself.

"Zaire Shepard is many things, unpredictable, connected, and deadly yes, but she always made her goals clear, ignoring her will only hurt us in the long run when she does something for the greater good without notifying us first. For all we know she may even want to retire, until we talk to her, we don't know what she wants."

Councillor Irissa looked unconvinced, "Shepard was always a wildcard, she used to focus that on the Reapers, but considering the damage she did before the war and who she is now working with now, are we sure we can to trust her?"

"Trust is not the problem, Zaire was always looking out for the Galaxies best interests, whether our predecessors liked it or not." Stated Councillor Shila'Ran.

"Agreed" added Osoba, hoping that _that_ particular argument didn't come up again.

"Ignoring Shepard is a tactic that the Old Council used, any action we take must be open, Shepard does not let people intimidate her, just look at what remains of Cerberus."

Everybody turned to look at Councilor Esheel in surprise.

"I would think that you would want more intelligence before making such a statement Esheel, you normally want the STG ready to act" commented Irissa.

The Salarian shrugged at the claim, simply stating, "Shepard unpredictable, took on the Broker network and won, who knows what else she could do now that she has a Asari Lifespan."

"She what?" Sputtered Councillor Irissa.

Esheel didn't even blink, "during Shepard's time with Cerberus, she made several attacks against known Broker operations, Liara T'Soni herself working against him, however, after the Alpha Relay incident, the Broker began to remove several operations, stopped doing business with the Batarians, investigated Prothien history and extinction far more openly, and quietly began to support Shepard when she was on trial."

"You think that-"

"Shepard took on Broker, and won."

"This is a conversation best finished behind locked doors" stated Osoba, his mind already putting together things that happened in the War that had previously been strange.

"Agreed" nodded Councillor Irissa.

"Then let's get back to the original topic shall we?" Councillor Quentius commented.

"Let's put it to the vote, yes or no, shall we try to communicate with Shepard?" Finally stated Varn.

It only took 2 minutes to get the results, 5/6 for yes, so they would attempt to contact Zaire Shepard, and attempt to discover her side of the story.

Osoba showed no signs of being happy besides a slight smile on his face, though inside he was curious, Irissa was the one who obviously voted no, and he wondered why she was so set against talking to Shepard.

Outwardly however, he sat back in his chair and sighed, grabbed his own bottle of alcohol and asked the next question on the list.

"Right, with that done, we should get started on this Orthius group, Councillor Esheel? What does the STG have?"

As the Council representatives started to debate the political connections that the group probably had, Osoba simply listened and took notes, he was glad he was able to get Zaire an opening, it's the least he could do.

* * *

 **Time: Unknown**

 **Location: Unknown**

Zaire Shepard groaned in pain as she came to, her head pounded with a headache and she felt slightly off balance, the last thing she remembered was Liara, she was on top of her, and things were just getting interesting when everything went black.

"Liara?" Zaire called out, her voice echoed, which was odd, as she swore that Liara's bedroom didn't echo before.

Opening her eyes, Zaire blinked as she tried to understand her new surroundings, they looked very similar to when she entered the Geth Collective, except everything was made of Crystal.

"Okay, this is going down as one of those unexpected moments that no one will ever believe actually happened."

Standing up straight, Zaire realised that she was dressed in her armours undersuit, the flexible, semi-bullet proof, knife resistant, skin hugging suit left her feeling far too exposed.

Taking a 360 degree spin, Zaire couldn't spot her girlfriend, and instead decided to take a closer look at the Crystal shards sticking vertically out of the ground.

From what she could see, they were less shards and more oddly cut, as they were flawless, with no cracks or imperfections on them at all.

Reaching one of the smaller pieces, Zaire found that it was nearly the size of herself, and could see a mirror image of herself in the reflection.

Coming to a stop face to face with herself, Zaire brought up her hand and placed it on the Crystal, expecting for it to be cold, and jumped back when instead if felt like touching another's hand.

What really freaked her out though, was that the mirror image of herself didn't move, staying with her hand touching the Crystal surface, a smile slowly growing on her, it's, face.

Her mirrored double then broke physics and stepped out of the Crystal and as doing so, her hair changing from black to bright red, with still that creepy ass smile on its face.

"And you are?"

Instead of answering, her double ganger brought her hands back and initiates a biotic charge, hitting Zaire like a bullet train and sending her flying, and hitting another large Crystal several feet behind her.

After giving herself a couple seconds Zaire pulled herself up and turned to see another clone pull itself out of the Crystal she had just hit, turning a bad position to a terrible one.

"Oh Shit!"

Backing up, Zaire started dodging punches as Readhead One and Two moved forward, attempting to keep her on the defensive. But that strategy obviously grew boring after a couple of seconds, and Redhead One Charged, getting behind Zaire and throwing a punch. Dodging Redhead One's punch she blocked Redhead Two's snap kick, before countering with her own low kick, sweeping out Red Twos feet from underneath it.

Spinning around to fully focus on Red Two, Zaire began to trade punches with her clone, though for every hit Red Two landed, Zaire landed two more, and it was clear that her clone was slightly slower and weaker than the original.

Getting Red Two into a headlock, Zaire attempted to choke out her clone, only for the clone to push backwards, sending Zaire into another one of those magical crystals and sure enough, hands appeared seconds later, grabbing her around the chest and stomach and pinning her back against the strange Crystal.

Red Two landed a blow to Zaire's stomach and used the brief few seconds to escape, and leaving Zaire to grapple with the clone still halfway in the Crystal behind her.

Red One joined Two, looking far less chipper now sporting a broken nose, but before the two could move Zaire got a good hold on one of the arms pinning her and heaved, pulling the third clone out of the Crystal and sending it flying over her shoulder and crashing into the ground at her feet.

"Fuck, what I wouldn't give for my bloody armour!"

And as if by command, her new N7 Armour slowly started building itself out of nothing, her arms and legs slowly being encased in ceramic armoured plating.

Her 3 clones obviously realised that they were soon to be at a disadvantage and rushed forwards, probably hoping to end the fight before she was covered in armoured plating.

Slowly moving backwards, Zaire continued blocking their attacks, letting her armoured gauntlets take the hits, while her own punches suddenly had more power, thanks to the inbuilt exo-skeleton somehow working despite half the framework missing.

One of the clones Charged, but instead of sending Zaire flying, the clone came out of the mass free tunnel and ate metal, having instead been clothes lined by Zaire with her armoured gauntlet.

Watching the clone hit the floor in a pile, Zaire missed the haymaker coming towards her head, and saw stars as she staggered backwards and tried to regain her balance. The two other clones didn't give her the chance and pinned her to the ground, her hands and legs held down.

From the way they were pinning her Zaire couldn't gain any leverage to escape and watched as the one she had decked after Charging picked itself up, suffering from a rather obvious head wound, though the clone didn't seem to care.

"Honestly" grumbled Zaire, trying and failing to shift the two on her back, "why do I always pick fights with things that have superior numbers?"

Of course, the clones didn't respond, whether they couldn't or wouldn't speak Zaire didn't know, but she watched as the only clone not sitting on top of her move towards the nearest Crystal and knocked on it as if it was a door, which, Zaire mused, was probably what they were.

After a few seconds Zaire watched as one after another, more and more clones pulled themselves out of the Crystal at a steady rate. The shear amount of clones made Zaire worry for her chances, as a straight up fight like before was now impossible, she would need to change tactics.

* * *

Liara groaned as she returned to conscious, she had a terrible headache and it felt as if the room was spinning. Slowly picking herself up, Liara kept her eyes squeezed shut in an attempt to keep her balance.

Eventually the spinning stopped and the headache subsided, letting her open her eyes. What she saw greatly confused her, as she realised that she was no longer in her bedroom, and that she couldn't see Zaire.

Recalling what they were doing last made her blush, but she persevered, and concluded that they were either in her, or Zaire's dream scape. To test who's mind they were actually in, Liara attempted to will the landscape to change from white floors and Crystal to grass and hills, but nothing changed, so Liara concluded that they were in Zaire's mind.

Taking a look around, Liara was curious, as neither she nor Zaire had talked about attempting a joint dream, which took effort and concentration to get right. The fact that they had apparently done it by accident was meant to be impossible, though with her bondmate, Liara supposed anything was possible.

Deciding to take a closer look at the crystals, Liara walked over to one of them, and as she got closer, Liara noted the almost perfect way they were cut, and that there appeared to be no scratches or cracks.

As she finally got close enough to touch, Liara noted that they didn't reflect her image, which she found odd, as the floor and terrain behind her was, so it was a deliberate act of her reflection removed.

Before she could do anything else though, the bright white of her surroundings suddenly darkened, with the floor turning a dark purple and the crystals a complete black. Shadows sprang up around her, and a mist started to spread out on the floor around her knees.

Liara instinctively looked around, settling into a classic Asari battle stance and flaring her biotics in an attempt to create some lighting. Her biotics however, barely created any light, and what light it did create simply illuminated the fog in a blue glow.

Realising that Zaire had changed the environment, Liara immediately knew that something was wrong and used what limited power she had in Zaire's mind to locate her.

After a few seconds she turned and started running towards higher ground, where she instinctively felt Zaire's presence. Though as she reached the hills apex Liara stopped in her tracks, narrowly missing falling over the sharp cliff edge.

There were hundreds of people moving below her, moving methodically though a maze of crystals, apparently searching for something. But from the hight Liara was at, she couldn't make out any distinctive features.

Liara was about to turn away to look for a way down when, as one, the army of people below her turned in the same direction and sergded forwards, looking like rippling water from Liara's vantage point.

After a few seconds passed Liara turned away and headed back, looking for a way to get down that didn't involve jumping.

* * *

Zaire kept to the shadows and stayed still as another couple of clones sped past, probably going to find out what happened to the 3 that she had accidentally bumped into a minute ago. Though an accident, the fight had revealed 2 things to Zaire, one: all of the clones were linked to each other, like the Geth. Second: the clones were weaker, most likely it was quality vs quantity, as she had recounted that at the start of the fight, her original clone was almost as good as her, though as they had multiplied, they had gotten slower and more predictable.

This meant that as long as she only confronted groups of three and four, she held the advantage in skill, speed and reaction time.

Confident that it was safe to move, Zaire set off at a jog, though she kept to the shadows where possible. Her current goal was finding Liara and escaping what ever the hell this place was, hopefully avoiding her clones all the way. She also stayed away from the crystals, preventing them from grabbing her and keeping them from zeroing in on her location.

Slipping past two rather large pieces Zaire found herself in a clearing, and looking up she saw a cliff made of the same purple stuff the floor was, with crystals sticking out at odd places, seemingly at random.

Deciding that higher ground was a good idea, Zaire turned to where the cliff sloped downwards and jogged towards a good place to climb, though dodging the crystals would be a pain in the ass.

Zaire huffed, but began climbing, aiming to move slightly to the left in order to avoid the Crystal above her, and climb quickly before a clone spots her and gets above or below her. The last thing she needed was to be trapped on the face of a cliff.

Reaching half way, Zaire starts shifting to the left, dodging a Crystal and continuing to make quick progress. Though when she does a quick check beneath herself her heart picks up speed. A clone is below her, not moving, just observing, which meant she had 5 minutes to hall ass before she's going to have to fight a couple thousand Shepard clones next to a cliff, and despite everything else that Shepard had done over the years, she really didn't want to push her luck.

Reaching the cliff edge, Zaire throws an arm out to gain enough grip to hall herself up and over.

As she pulls her head up, however, she comes nose to toe with a boot.

* * *

Apologses for my disappearing act, college is getting tough and I'm looking into which University I want to go to.

I'm going to release this chapter when I have another already in reserve, hopefully this should help me have enough time to wright ahead of my shot to pieces time table.

As always reviews are inspiration and motivation, so please feel free to leave one, even if it's just a 'Good chapter, keep it up' as it really does help.

~ JunkMail


	12. Chapter 12

~ I don't own mass effect, bioware and EA does ~

* * *

 **Time** \- **U** **nknown**

 **Zaire's mental plane**

Zaire yelped and leaned backwards in surprise, she attempts to correct herself far too late, loseing her balance as her fingers struggle to gain any grip on the too smooth surface. But before she completely and utterly fails and ends up falling to her death, a blue hand rushes out and grabs hers, hauling her back towards the cliff face.

"Liara?" Zaire asks as she rolls further away from the cliff edge, her entire body feeling boneless from the sudden subsidence of adrenalin.

"Zaire?" Liara looked far more annoyed than alarmed at how close to death Zaire had been, though, considering her previous occupation's lack of health and/or life insurance, perhaps Liara was far more used to saving her bondmate from stupid deaths than Zaire originally thought.

"What in Goddesses name are you climbing up that cliff for, you nearly gave me a heart attack!?"

Or not.

Zaire took a moment to compose herself, before she shifted her head to stare up at her beautiful, intelligent and extremely annoyed girlfriend.

"Trying to escape capture while searching for you and figuring out how to get out of here?"

Though originally going for a statement, it came out of her mouth as a question, as though Zaire was asking if that satiafied Liara's question.

"And you thought that climbing up a cliff was a good way to find me?"

In response Zaire snorted, "higher ground, love, and I was hoping to get away from those bloody Crystals" as if for effect, she waved her hand at one of said crystals in annoyance.

Confused, Liara turned and looked at the Crystal that Zaire had pointed towards.

"What's wrong with them?"

"They clone me, that's what's wrong with them."

"Clone you!?"

Zaire nodded her head tiredly, "every time I touch them a clone comes out of them and attacks me, I've been fighting, evading and running for hours."

Liara paused, thinking back to where she had been standing an hour ago, "how many clones are out there?"

Zaire hauled herself to her feet, but replied as casually as she could, "oh, about a thousand or two, I lost count really early on."

Liara thought back and remembered the large group of people searching the crystal field next to the cliff they were standing on.

"Can't you just remove them yourself?" She questioned, now keeping a closer eye on the closest crystals around them.

Zaire barked out a laugh, "remove them how? It's not like I can just wish them away!"

Liara turned sharply to look at her bondmate, confusion on her face.

"You can't?"

"No, should I be able to?" Zaire was getting more confused by the second.

The Asari nodded her head, as if it was the most normal request in the Galaxy.

"It is your mind we are in, yes?"

"And how am I meant to know that?"

Liara pointed at their surroundings, "you were the one to change the landscape, were you not?"

Zaire was slowly realising just where they were, and what that meant.

"Yeah, though that would also explain how I gained my armour. And now that I think about it, this place reminds me of the Geth Consensus."

As if to test that theory, Zaire lifted her hand and aimed it at the crystal she had pointed at earlier, and with a wave it crumbled into dust with nothing more than a hard thought.

Zaire couldn't help but grin, suddenly realising just how much power she had at her fingertips, and with another strong thought, her duel katana grew out of the floor, their blades concealed in their leather sheath and attached to a magnetic clamp, ready to be fitted to her armoured back.

"Anything you want love, armour, guns or something?"

Her lover nodded, "my armour and submachine guns would be useful."

And with a wave and a thought, Liara was ready for combat, decked out in the armour that she had acquired on The Stop.

"Right, I guess I should also get rid of those crystals, don't want anymore clones to fight than necessary."

And as the crystals surrounding them shattered and crumbled around them Liara thought back to her original question, before they got distracted but armour and guns.

"Zaire? Couldn't you just remove the clones like you just did with the crystals?"

Zaire grinned, "I should be able to, give me a second and I'll try it."

Zaire closed her eyes and concentrated, and her mind slowly drifted from her body as she searches for a presence similar to her own, attempting to seek out and remove the clones from her consciousness, however, after a few moments she finds something else, another presence that felt off, mechanical, and when she tried to get a closer look she saw the clones, all of them.

From what she could see, they were less individuals and more like the fingers of a hand, or a arm of a body, and then she made a mistake, she pushed too far and the other presence noticed, reacting in a mechanical way that remained Zaire of the Geth. It resisted, put up walls, and Zaire struggled to keep up the pressure and knock them down. Eventually she was pushed away completely, losing her foothold and she was forced to put up her own walls in order to keep it out of her own head, she opened her eyes, suddenly feeling extremely tired.

"The Hell? It resisted, and pushed me out!"

Liara was extremely worried, any creation of Zaire's subconscious should naturally yeald you the conscious mind, the fact that it resisted, and managed a stalemate should be impossible.

"It?"

Zaire nodded her head vigorously, and with a thought the ground beneath her rose up to create a seat for her to take her weight.

"The clones aren't sapiant, they're more tools than anything else, like the Geth and their mobile platforms, easily replaceable. The thing controlling them, I have no idea what it is, but when I got too close it attacked, it was almost mechanical, but different, adaptable, flowing."

Now Liara was seriously concerned, "Zaire, was it intelligent, or a kind of program, because this thing is probably a part of your Cybernetics. Perhaps some sort of intelligence that is designed to coordinate your implants to work effectively."

Zaire blew out a breath, looking far more stressed than she was 10 minutes ago when she was on the cliff face, though she still had that spark in her eyes, the one that said she had hope.

"If it's an AI, then it's powerful, though it doesn't appear to be able to break down my own defences, I can't break its either."

She pitched her nose, "it's a stalemate, I can't attack or my defences weaken, it can't defend and attack at the same time either."

"So what can we do?"

Liara was getting agitated, feeling that she was just standing around and watching the person she loved fight an impossible battle against an impossible enemy. A lot like the Reapers, when she thought about it.

Before Zaire could answer Liara's question, she felt the same presence of before behind her, and she rolled herself forward, off her seat. A crunch behind her told her that something heavy had hit the seat she had previously sitting on.

Coming up onto her feet next to Liara, Zaire spun on the balls of her feet and turned to face her failed attacker, and came face to face with herself, another one of her clones, which had its fist buried into her seat up to its elbow.

Liara reacted first, and as Zaire had completed her roll, she had flared her biotics and created a powerful Push field, which hit the Clone dead center and sent it flying backwards, taking half the seat with it.

Zaire made a gesture and a wall pulled itself out of the ground behind the flying Clone, and it hit the wall at several kilometers per hour. The wall was made of the same substance as the floor, and reacted like rock, crunching and fracturing under the force, and the Clone ended up stuck in a hole of its own making.

Zaire watched as the seat that was sent flying plugged the hole neatly, and their attacker was encased in stone, however, more flashes of light erupted around them and more clones appeared, though these weren't armoured or armed with anything, the shear amount of them was a weapon on its own.

Liara instantly had her submachine guns out and was spraying as many rounds as possible towards the mass of Clones beginning to charge towards them, backing up to give as much distance as possible.

Lacking any mid or long rang weaponry, Zaire clamped her swords to her back and drew one of them, holding the katana in a reverse defensive grip, and when the clones hit close combat range, she surged forward and neatly bisected the nearest clone, spinning on her heel and slashing downward, killing another.

Zaire was slicing through multiple clones, ducking and waving fluidly as she avoided their punches and kicks, and managing to keep enough space around her to use her katana.

Once again, Liara flared her biotics and created a Singularity, and sent it into the backs of one corner of the Clones blocking Zaire's attempts to retreat. The singularity pulled ten clones up and into the air, giving Zaire the time to skim the edge of the artificial black hole and pull back, killing any clones that got too close.

The dead clones that Liara and Zaire hit reacted like glass, shattering if a grievous injury is inflicted. A clone got to close, and lost an arm to a blind swing from Zaire. The arm was cut clean in half, and where there would normally be blood, opaque glass cubes disintegrated and shattered.

And although Liara kept her finger on the trigger and another hand constantly manipulating mass effect fields, the clones were slowly closing in, and Zaire was clearly dealing with double the number of enemies she was.

There was another small cluster of bright flashes from behind Liara and the Asari turned, expecting to see more clones, but instead saw a wall of Rampart and YMIR mechs, and they immediately opened fire, spraying mass accelerator rounds and micro missiles at the mass of approaching clones. The mechs slowly moved forward, forming a perimeter around the Asari. Confused, Liara turned and saw Shepard, flanked by two Rampart mechs and was making a beeline for her position.

"Your doing I take it?" Liara asked, turning to watch as a never ending pile of mechs fought a never ending wave of clones.

Zaire nodded, "they're easy to create and come armed and lightly armoured, a hell of a lot better than the clones odds."

Liara nodded absent mindedly wondered if this was an example of the human phrase 'when a immovable object met an unstoppable force'.

"What now?"

"Now?" Something in her lovers voice made her look back at Zaire's face, and she caught a look of anger and determination on her face. "Now we go after the thing that's pulling the strings."

And before Liara could ask how, both her and her lover disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

 **10.03.0005**

 **The Normandy**

 **Captain's Cabin**

Spectre Ashely Williams was having a bad day, her biggest op. as a Spectre was scrapped, she was being recalled to guard the Council, which was the Spectre equivalent to a desk job, and to top it all off, a new terrorist organization was trying to replace Cerberus and the Alliance was doing Jack shit about it.

Still, she felt sorry for Vega, as she had come to see the same potential in him that Shepard obviously had, and there was nothing she could do to help. Apparently he was being recalled to the Sol System for some sort of inside job with the Alliance Internal Affairs, though she wasn't privy to the details.

The Normandy shuddered slightly as it slid into a private docking station reserved for Spectre vessels, and Ashely heared EDI announce one week shore leave, and the happy replies of the crew reverberate the halls, bringing a smile to her face.

Say what you wanted about her career, those under her command rarely had any complaints on her leadership or work ethic, and being in charge of the Normandy always led to high profile and low profile events in equal number.

She sighed, and pulled herself up from her bed, walking past her work bench and the aquarium that for some reason was still fixed to the wall. Ashley was thinking of ripping it out and using the space as a gun rack, after all the missions that she had partaken in over the last decade she had collected a considerable amount of fire power, it would be nice to have some of the older and more explosive ones on display.

Exiting her room and entering the elevator, she hit the holographic button for the CIC, and leaned into the nearest corner, the elevator was still slower than a Volus going down stairs, despite numerous complaints from the entire crew, her included.

The doors slid open and Ashely stepped out and into the CIC, where people were finishing their jobs and shutting down the ship's primary systems, the Citadel providing the gravity and the ship was being provided life support via docking ports.

The crew on deck immediately noticed their superior was on deck and everyone stiffened slightly, moving more professionally than a second ago. A consequence of different commanding styles between her and Shepard, as Ashely preferred military organization over Zaire's more unconventional approach.

Williams walked past the Galaxy map, heading towards the cockpit. She had a appointment with the board of directors in 2 hours and she wanted to be there early, because no matter how shitty the posting, a Williams always did their best.

Reaching the airlock, Williams passed EDI's mobile platform and Joker as they powered down the Normandy's engines, communicating with docking control.

Hitting the command console the airlock opened and the Spectre headed for the private aircars that would take her to the presidium.

* * *

 **30 Minutes later**

The aircar landed swiftly and silently, and two Citadel Guards approached as Williams got out, activating her Omni-Tool and sending her details for them to check.

One of the guards, a Turian, spoke as his Asari partner checked her details.

"Spectre Williams, reason for visit?"

Ashley sighed, but nodded, "I'm here to speak to the board of directors in about an hour, I'm early."

The Asari cleared her throught, "she clear."

And with that done Ashley move forward, and the two guards moved back to their original places.

The presidium was full of white steel and clean glass as before the War, the only difference was the lack of C-sec, as the New Citadel Guard now held that honor, coincidently freeing up man power for the Citadel Executors to use elsewhere. Unlike C-sec armour, the Citadel Guard had more advanced looking armour and weapons, and had everything is painted black with silver highlights, wearing helmets that concealed faces and with no identifying markings on them except for their race.

Passing by the water features and hurrying politicians who were coming in and out of the political center of the Galaxy, Ashely entered the main reception area, where she moved off to one side and stepped into an elevator specifically placed for Spectre use, and hit the button for the Directors Classified meeting rooms.

Thankfully, the elevator was a hell of a lot faster than the Normandy's and it only takes a few seconds to go down several hundred floors.

Where the Citadel Council was positioned at the top of the Presidium Tower for all to see, the Board of Directors were generally positioned in the Citadel Fleets or under the Tower itself, far from prying eyes as possible while still being accessible.

And so, Ashley exited the elevator and walked past two more guards, the paranoia of both Cerberus and Reaper attacks on the Citadel still fresh in everyone's minds. Williams walked through a set of doors and took her seat, still an hour early, and brought up what little details she was given on her next assignment up on her data slate, a piece of flexible black plastic that she could view data on.

Unexpectedly, the door slid open and Councillor Irissa walked in, looking rather agitated, if the clenching of her jaw and flexing of her hands were any indication.

Standing, Ashley gave a Human salute, "ma'am? What are you doing here? I'm meeting with the Directors in an hour."

The Asari Councillor nodded, "I am aware, but I wished to speak with you privately, and this is the best I'm going to get."

The Councillor checked the door was shut over her shoulder before speaking.

"Republic Intelligence has informed me that during the War, Councillor Tevos revealed some serious secrets about the Republic to Commander Shepard, and that was one of the reasons she was replaced by me."

"We now believe that Shepard has sold those secrets to the Shadow Broker, and a team has been sent to track down and arrest Shepard, I thought that you would like a heads up, as your next assignment will put you close to her."

"Please keep out of their way if you come into contact with them, as they have been authorized to use any means necessary."

Before Ashely could ask anything else, the Councillor turned and left through the same door that she had come though, leaving Ashely wondering how much Zaire had decided to work for the demons of the Galaxy, and what had happened to the awe inspiring Alliance Officer who had saved her on Eden Prime.

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Reviewed, as it seriously helps with motivation.**

 **As always reviews are inspiration and motivation, so please feel free to leave one, even if it's just a 'Good chapter, keep it up' as it really does help.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	13. Chapter 13

~ I don't own mass effect, Bioware and EA does ~

* * *

 **Time** \- **Unknown**

 **Zaire's mental plane**

Zaire was starting to get used to her new abilities, strange and physics defying as they were, they were pretty useful, especially being able to teleport, she wished that it could be translated into the real world, as childish as that was. Exiting at their destination, Zaire kept her hand on her lover, letting Liara steady herself before answering the question she would inevitably ask.

"The entity that's using the Clones should be close by, we need to find it and pull some answers out of it."

Liara took one more deep breath before turning and punching Zaire in the chest, not powerful enough to seriously hurt her, though it did knock her on her ass.

"Would it kill you to warn me next time, that was extremely disorienting!"

Zaire gave a small chuckle as she pulled herself up and onto her feet, "Ow, yes ma'am."

Though the grin on her face faded as she go a proper look at their surroundings, "just when things start feeling normal, they get stranger and stranger all over again."

There wasn't any visible floor, though Zaire felt it under her feet, and from what she could see they were in space, darkness surrounding them only spit up by stars, twinkling in and out. Though there was something off about them, though Liara spotted it first.

"They're all perfectly the same, they're equally spaced and equally bright, there's no difference apart from the flickering."

And Zaire saw it as well, it was as if the entire galaxy had been organized, there wasn't a star out of place.

 _"Good observation skills Liara T'Soni, Shepard always admired that about you."_

Zaire spun around, drawing both of her Katana in the same motion, the voice sent a chill up her spine, no emotion was expressed, and when she saw the voices owner, she almost dropped her swords in shock.

"Mom?"

The being that had her mother's appearance gave Zaire a cruel smile, and brought up her hand, pulling both Zaire and Liara off the their feet and trapping them in some sort of energy field, their arms pulled to their sides.

 _"No, but the psychological effect this interpretation has on you is useful."_

Liara grunted, trying to activate her biotics, but being unable to move meant that she could only flare them around her, not being able to create anything.

"What in the Goddesses name are you? And why are you in my bondmates mind?"

The woman laughed, but it held no emotion, giving it a creepy effect of Zaire's mother sarcastically laughing, and Zaire grit her teeth, it was mocking her, and in doing so it was pissing her off.

 _"I am nothing, a program, designed for only one purpose, to force Shepard's cooperation with the Operating System, one way or another."_

With another gesture Zaire was moved to the programs left, while Liara slowly moved to the right, both still straining against invisible bonds to get free.

 _"Shepard, You will submit completely to us, or I will kill Liara T'Soni."_

Zaire struggled harder, attempting to move her hands, which were still clenched around her Katana, spitting out her response as she did.

"Like hell you will, here's my counter offer, put us down or I kill you."

The programs face did not change in expression, nor did it move a muscle, but the air around them seemed to go cold regardless.

 _"So be it, either through grief or submission, you will cooperate with the Operating System."_

The thing that pretended to be her mother turned to face Liara, completely ignoring Zaire's shouts of rage, and gently placed its hand on Liara's chest. The moment her mother's hand made contact with her girlfriend, Liara seemed to seize up, her eyes rolling into the back of her head.

In her minds eye Zaire saw her Father, who was shot trying to protect her mother from Batarian slavers, her Mother, raped and then executed minutes later, her adoptive parents, nothing more than numbers on a board of civilian casualties of Earth, and Anderson, who she had watched helplessly as he was shot dead by a man consumed by his own evil, and now she was being forced to watch as Liara was killed as well.

Something pulsed, familiar and thumping with energy and after so long Zaire almost didn't recognise it, but the biotic power flowed forward and Zaire felt her invisible restraints struggle to contain it, and her body glowed white, her biotics activating and warping reality around her.

Zaire felt control she hadn't felt since the War as her amp reactivated. It was almost painful and Zaire instinctively pushed against her restraints, and they shattered around her, the program paused, turning to see what was happening, only to watch with apparent disbelief as Zaire flared her biotics and Charged, spinning mid air and bringing both blades down on its arm, physically separating it from her lover.

Zaire sheathed her swords and caught Liara bridal style when the field holding her failed, dropping her, and carefully lyed her on the ground, before turning back towards the program.

It had picked itself off of the floor, and was appearing to struggling to keep up the visage of looking like her mother, acting like water, it's body parts morphing as its hand regrew.

Deciding to act, Zaire drew her hand back and threw a powerful Warp at it, hitting dead center and throwing it backwards.

The Warp seemed to mess with its ability to shapeshift and it slowly began to change, the visage of her mother disappeared, and in her place a humanoid of red liquid emerged. It had legs reminiscent of a Quarian, though the body was a strange mix of a Salarian and Turian, and it had four fingers and toes. It's head was similar to an Asari's, though there wasn't any real head tentacles, it face, however, was blank, with four eyes, two on each side, glowing a chaotic white.

 _"You cannot defy the Operating System, you will submit."_

Zaire's response was a Shockwave, which threw the program off balance, making it stumble back, and before it could recover Zaire was in front of it, her white biotics flowing off her like mist as she drew and sliced downwards with one of her katana, which it dodged, but it didn't move fast enough to dodge her other katana, which she had drawn seconds later, almost cutting it in two.

Zaire then Charged up and backwards, doing a backwards flip and landing 5 feet away, settling into a double reverse grip defensive stance, waiting for it to make its own move.

But before the program could make its own attack, there was a flash of blue light and a figure appeared in between them.

The figure was like the program, except instead of a raging inferno of red water, angrily swirling around its confined form, it was made out of a dark, dense looking metal.

-Cooperation will be achieved by other means, Program, self terminate as your code dictates-

The program seemed to not like that, as it charged the metallic entity with a roar, crashing into it and seemed to lock itself into a match of power, both hands locked against the newcomer.

The newcomer seemed surprised, and it took a couple of steps back before retaliating and pushing back against the aggressor.

As the two creatures fought each other, Zaire slipped away, and ran for Liara's side, who hadn't gotten up from where Ziare had left her.

Sliding up next to her, Zaire dropped her swords as she started to panic, checking for a pulse, and breathing out a sigh of relif when she felt her girlfriends steady heat beat.

The was a crash, and Zaire looked back at the two figures fighting each other. The newcomer was holding its own, but Zaire could see that it was struggling to do any damage itself.

Liara groaned as she returned to consciousness, and put a hand to her head in pain. But her attempts to sit up were denied, and she could just make out her bondmate through hazy vision.

"Zaire? What happened?"

Zaire grimaced, "that, Thing, tried to kill you, I cut off its hand before it could."

Vision clearing, Liara could see two strange looking aliens attacking each other, and this time Zaire didn't stop her when she tried to sit up.

"What's going on now?"

Picking up her blades, Zaire used one to gesture to the one made out of red water.

"That one is what attacked you, some sort of shape shifter, the metal one appeared during our fight and told it to kill itself, which resulted them in fighting each other, while I slipped away to help you."

Liara nodded, feeling better and more alert, and quickly came up with a hypothesis.

"Perhaps the red one is a rouge program, and the metal one is another that was sent to remove it."

They watched as the red program got another hit in, sending the metal one crashing onto its back, and it appeared to be struggling to get up again.

Turning to her bondmate, Liara decided on a plan.

"Zaire, take out the red one, the metal one should be easier to deal with if it's hostile as well."

Zaire Shepard nodded, standing up and flaring her white biotics, which seemed to coil past her hands and cover her swords, giving them a ghostly appearance.

"Kill the one made of water, interrogate the metal one, got it."

And with that, Zaire disappeared into a tunnel of zero mass, reappearing behind the red program with both blades held in a frontal grip, which distracted it enough to let the metal program get up unhindered.

The red program screeched, one of its hands whipping out and attempted to hit Zaire, but she ducked and cut upwards, slicing off the offending appendage, and in the same movement, used her other sword to sail as its midsection, forcing it towards the metal program. Said program grappled with it from behind, fixing its arms in place and exposing its stomach to Zaire, giving her an opportunity to end the fight quickly.

However, as Zaire thrust forward with both blades, the red program moved to the left, forcing the metal program to have to dodge Zaire's blades and subsequently loosening its hold, which the red program took advantage of to escape.

Though before it could shift into a attacking position, Zaire moved forward, slipping her left katana into a reverse grip and slashed diagonally, which the red program moved back to avoid, but Zaire kept her momentum going, and pivoted on her foot and spun a full 360 degrees, and slashed downwards during her right katana, which she was still holding in a forward grip, and cut its arm off at the shoulder.

The red program shrieked in rage or pain, Zaire couldn't tell which, and the metal program moved past her, grabbing the red program's only other arm and attempted to twist it behind its back, but the water simply bled through the gaps, and Zaire moved quickly, sending a small Warp into its shoulder, disrupting its ability to shift its body shape and giving the metal program the grip needed to hold its counterpart still.

Moving quickly Zaire once again moved forward and stabbed both swords at its chest, but thanks to her earlier Warp, it couldn't shift out of the way, and was stabbed in the heart, or where Zaire guessed where it's heart was.

The red program gave one final shriek of pain, cut off when Zaire twisted her Katana, before slowly it evaporated into thin air.

Zaire, however, kept her guard up, as she moved away from the metal program, putting a couple of meters between them, just in case. Liara was also making her way towards them, and arrived at Zaire's side, an analysing look in her eyes as she gave the newcomer a once over.

Zaire, however, decided to break the silence that had descended on them, and rather bluntly asked.

"Are we going to have a problem as well? Or are we going to talk like adults?"

There was a slight pause as both sides watched the other for any hostile movements before finally the new program spoke.

-There is no reason for hostile action between us-

Both Human and Asari blew out a breath of relief, and Zaire slowly sheathed one of her Katana as Liara replied.

"Good, I assume you know who we are?"

The newcomer nodded it's head, -yes, you are Doctor T'Soni and Zaire Shepard, the Catalysts for the Reapers destruction-

The Asari nodded her head, "yes, and who are you?"

-I am the Operating System-

That statement put them both on edge.

"Your whom I was meant to Submit to?" Zaire demanded, looking ready to pull out her other Katana again.

-Yes, however, the program was outdated, as it was unable to adapt to unique circumstances.-

Keeping a restraining hand on her lover, Liara spoke up.

"Outdated? What do you mean?"

-The program was designed to force cooperation of the cybernetic system with the organic subconscious user, with the assistance of the conscious mind, however, Shepard resisted, and the subconscious remained ignorant of the system.-

-When this failed the program attempted to force cooperation with the conscious mind, this manifested as nightmares while Shepard engaged in REM sleep.-

Stepping forward, Zaire held up a hand.

"Hold on a second, where we're you in all of this?"

The program cocked its head, -I was offline, I was activated when you and the program started combating each other, a failsafe, incase the program ever went rogue, which in this case, it did.-

Liara smiled, "where you then arrived and assisted us in destroying the rogue program."

Said program nodded, -yes, when Doctor T'Soni joined her conscious with Shepard's, the program attempted a more obvious attack in the hopes that Shepard would be distracted, however, that plan failed, and when you both confronted the program directly, it attempted to psychologically attack Shepard and then you, Doctor T'Soni, in the hopes of forcing its way into Shepard's conscious mind.-

It then gave a respecting nod at Zaire, -you not only continued to resist, but you then overpowered the program and severely damaged it, and with my help, removed it.-

Zaire sighed, "you know that this could have been avoided if I was told this from the start."

The metal program nodded in agreement, -yes, though this process is usually done with the users consent and full understanding.-

Zaire blew out an explosive breath, relived to now know what is going on, though Liara looked rather exited.

"Do you have any data on your creators? We believed them to be the original creators of the Reapers."

The metal program nodded, -I have on file the immediate history of my creators, the Tavian, up to the machines rebellion.-

Liara looked like she was trying not to jump on her toes, the light that she always had in her eyes when she talked about the Prothiens present in her eyes. Though Zaire had more immediate questions.

"And what about you, what are you exactly?"

-I am a cybernetics operating system manager, classified by your definitions as a restricted AI, I store relative data, manage your Cybernetics and provide tactical data. I am also equipped with a military grade Hacking software package.-

"And my Cybernetics?"

-Military grade combat assistant cybernetics, full skellatory reinforcement, muscle reinforcement and density efficiency, nanite assisted nervous system, reinforced skin weave, subdermal armour plating over vital weak points, a quantum greybox, custom biotic military amp and touch point hacking capabilities.-

Zaire whistled, "touch point hacking capabilities?"

-Nanites use short range wireless transmitters to allow me to hack any piece of wireless technology you touch, while minimizing the chance of counter hacking due to the transmitters short range.-

"No wonder the Alliance Military didn't want to let you go, this is hundreds of years in advance of anything the galaxy has" Liara commented.

Zaire however, remembered what it had initially said, "what do you mean by, 'restricted' AI?"

The AI turned its head, looking straight at Zaire as it spoke.

-Any commands made by the user will be obeyed, as well as some restrictions on the manipulation of the users physical and mental form, implemented to prevent rogue AI takeover.-

Zaire seemed to relax as she listened, and finally sheathed her other katana.

"The program that fought us said we needed to cooperate with you, I assume that's the reason that my Cybernetics are currently offline?"

The AI nodded it's metal head, -You were both physically and mentally resisting integration, and winning periodically, the system was designed with the users consent in mind.-

Liara decided to voice a question of her own, "what would it take to achieve cooperation now?"

The operating system shook its head, -unnecessary, during the fight with the program you consciously accepted my help, and as I was protecting your mate, your subconscious accepted me as well, we are currently at 97% synchronicity, this is within normal conditions.-

Liara smiled, as most of the mystery of her bondmates cybernetics were solved, and hopefully Zaire would now be able to sleep better.

"What now?" She asked curiously.

-I will go to standby, Shepard can subconsciously call for me whenever she needs me, you can leave whenever you want.-

And with that done, the AI disappeared in a flash of blue light, leaving the couple to themselves, both thinking of the things they had just learned. Finally, Zaire spoke, giving a cheeky grin, "let's get out of here, we were having fun until all of this got in the way."

Liara blushed, just managed to step forward and slap Zaire upside the head, before they both disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Reviewed, as it seriously helps with motivation.**

 **I am considering bigger time skips, as some of my ideas are decades after the War, let me know what you guys think.**

 **As always reviews are inspiration and motivation, so please feel free to leave one, even if it's just a 'Good chapter, keep it up' as it really does help.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	14. Chapter 14

~ I don't own mass effect, Bioware and EA does ~

* * *

 **11.03.0005**

 **Omega System**

 **Turian Battle Cruiser**

Yano L'voke grinned and sat herself down next to her Human counterpart, tired from sparring with her Commandos and deciding to watch for a bit. Though from the look on her friends face she was thinking up something interesting and probably completely unconventional. She could also guess what Zaire was probably thinking about.

"So, what completely unconventional ideas have you got for this big thing? I mean, what are you gonna need a Battle Cruiser for anyway?" Asked L'voke, grinning at her Human friend in anticipation.

Said Human snorted in amusement, "I got some ideas." Knowing full well that the Asari Commander wouldn't let up until she had thoroughly picked her brain on the matter.

They were sitting on some metal cargo containers in the Battle Cruisers cargo bay, both Commanders were watching as the other Commandos did light training and exercises, making use of the space to keep in shape and giving those bored something practical to do. The flare of blue biotics giving the place a flickering blue tinge.

"Ideas? Come on Ze, you can giving me more than that! I know you have something good, you have the same look in your eyes as when we were on Yuopra. And that time over 200 Batarian slavers ended up dead with minimal casualties."

Zaire grinned deviously, letting the Commando stew for a bit, but relented after a few seconds, "Liara has been digging into her contacts in the Republic's military scrap yards, and has managed to get hold of enough scrap Solaris Armour for the Cruisers plating."

Yano gave a bark of surprised laughter, and grinned back at her Human friend. Solaris Armour was developed by the Asari just before the War had started, and was rated to take on dreadnoaght level mass accelerator fire and cruiser level Thanix fire. Nobody had found anything other than Reaper Armour that could hold up against a Dreadnought level Thanix cannon, though there was only 4 ships that carried that level of fire power.

"Goddess, are you armouring this ship or building a mini Citadel?" Yano asked sarcastically, leaning back on her arms and swinging her legs over the edge of the container.

Zaire returned the laugh, standing and stretching her legs, sighing as the pleasant feeling of stretching stiff muscles caused her to smile.

"If we ever get in a space battle, then by the time anything's managed to get through both the upgraded barriers and new armour, we should have crossed half the Traverse."

The Asari Commander grunted in amusement, "and what about the main gun?"

"Getting rid of it."

That surprised the Commando, causing her to twist around to look up at her friend.

"What?"

The Human shrugged, "I don't need it, and the space can be used to add extra FTL capacitors, which will let us bug out quicker if shit ever hits the fan."

The Asari was quick to point out the obvious down side.

"But you lose your main offensive weapon!"

Shepard smiled, shrugging helplessly, "I'm not going to be needing the Cruisers main gun Yan, it's going to be able to take the hits until it can hit FTL and run. Plus, it won't piss off the Council as much if it's only got defensive capabilities."

"Yeah, maybe you don't need the fire power now, but what about 50 years down the line, or 300?"

Another shrug, "Yan, if I need the fire power of a Cruisers main gun, then chances are it's already a shit situation and that the best option is retreat. And you also forget, the hanger has room for 3 Frigates, if I need fire power, I'll arm them with Thanix Cannons, Frigates are far more maneuverable and a hell of a lot quicker."

Yano nodded, seeing that her friend had thought the situation though and had covered all bases.

"Fine, you wanna help me with this lot? I'm sure there's a trick or two you could show while kicking their asses."

Zaire smiled, "sure, I could use the practice, it's been a while since I've practiced some of the more advanced marshal arts I've learned over the years."

* * *

 **Omega Station**

 **4 hours later**

The Turian Battle Cruiser slowly made its way to Omega's docking areas. The smaller, poorly maintained ship's common to Omega's trade lanes buzzing around like flys, until Aria's Black Fleet gave it access to their private docking station, thus stating it was under The Queens protection.

Twenty minutes after the ship had docked with the station and the Queen of Omega herself stood at the airlock, flanked by a dozen visible Commandos, backed up by Rampart mechs, obviously scavenged from Cerberus's old occupational mech force.

The air was buzzing with nervous anticipation, not helped by the Cruisers Guardian Laser System, which was visibly tracking Aria's commandos movements with mechanical precision.

Aria herself however, appeared bored, and was casually typing something into her Omni-Tool and tapping her foot impatiently.

The airlock door panel changed from red to green, giving a small beep of warning before the doors slid open, revealing a Human Female, surrounded by 5 of her own commandos, all fully armoured and armed with rifles, although both clearly out gunned and out numbered, they walked out calmly, giving off an air of indifference to the firepower being pointed around the room.

Reaching Aria, the Human waited calmly as the Queen kept typing, Asari Commandos fingering weapons and preping biotics. Finishing whatever she was doing, Aria closed the Omni-Tool, the bored expression never flickering, before calmly speaking.

"Did you know that the Council has put out a request for information on a rogue Turian Battle Cruiser, apparently it's very important to them."

The Pirate Queen then gave a devious smirk, "a shame that I can't locate it, the monetary reward alone could buy me 2 Battle Cruisers of my own."

Behind her helmet, Zaire grinned, keeping up the sherade, "I agree, but sadly it could have gone anywhere, it's such a big galaxy we live in."

The Asari gave a low chuckle, she had always liked Shepard, she lead from the front, wasn't afraid of getting her hands dirty, and could actually back up what she said with real action. The galaxy made her out to be a saint, but in reality Shepard was an opportunist, she would take any advantage so long as it was useful, apart from slavers of course, but Aria understood where the hatred came from, and respected Shepard for her control over it.

With a flick of her wrist Bray walked over and did the scan, you couldn't be too careful, IR were practically everywhere and anyone could change their appearance to look like someone else with a decent doctor these days.

With a grunt of confirmation, Aria waved her people off, they were loyal to her, but the less who knew that a Galactic War Hero was on her station the better.

With most of her guards gone, Shepard's commandos appeared to relax slightly, though they kept their guns in hand and heads rotating, Aria noted that they were probably Commandos who had abandoned the republic to fight in the War. Highly experienced, properly trained, and highly motivated, they were probably even better than her own personal Commandos.

"Been a couple years Shepard, got bored being dead again?"

The helmet split, revealing the humans grinning face.

"Alliance hospitality got a little clingy, thought I would take a walk and see how the galaxy's been doing."

The Asari nodded, before moving her attention to the ship the Human had arrived in, giving it a more detailed look.

"How'd you get hold of a Battle Cruiser? It's marked as Blue Suns, but I haven't heard them whining about any stolen ships."

Zaire joined Aria in observing the ship, making notes of battle scarring and other ware and tear.

"You hear of a group called Orthius?"

The Asari grunted, "yeah, caught a few agents going by that name, some Cerberus knockoffs apparently."

Zaire gave her own grunt of affirmation, "yeah, idiots attacked and destroyed the station I was on, plus anyone else that was docked there, so I took their ship as payment."

The Queen shook her head, "if they had a Athame be damned Battle Cruiser, then they're better equipped than I thought. I'll keep a bigger eye out for them."

Aria finally turned to face Shepard, "so Shepard, what are you doing back on my station?"

Zaire smiled, "I need the Cruiser refitted, quietly and with no record. Omega was the best choice to keep away from the God damned Council and any Orthius presence."

Aria nodded, seeing the Humans point. While Zaire gestured to the main hanger, which had opened while they were talking.

"It's got enough space to house a couple Frigates, and its Guardian system is Hierarchy standard, but it needs newer armour plating and better kinetic shields fitted."

Aria looked contemplative, listening to Shepard as she made her request, outlining what man power she needed, and after a few minutes of silence she spoke.

"Alright Shepard, it'll get you the man power and equipment you need, consider this payment for helping me retake Omega, now were even."

Shepard nodded seriously, "Liara is working on getting the materials needed, new sensory equipment and software upgrades, oh, and fixing the hole in life support as well."

The Queen of Omega simply querked a tattooed eyebrow in question. Zaire however, simply shrugged.

"How else do you kill the entire crew of a Battle Cruiser with a couple Asari Commandos in only 10 minutes?"

Aria simply smiled, "you are one of a kind Shepard, in all my years I've seen anything and everything, but you always have a trick hidden and waiting."

Said Human just grinned, "all part of my charm Aria, I'll let you get back to Afterlife, I've got a million and one things to do and I'm sure you do too."

The Asari pirate Queen nodded, and turned, walking away and throwing "until next time Shepard" over her shoulder.

Once Aria was gone, taking the rest of her Commandos with her, Zaire sagged slightly and sighed. She was always tense when dealing with Aria, the Asari was as likely to help her as kill her, but her promises were never broken once made.

"You okay boss?" Asked one of the Commandos that had accompanied her.

Which the Human replied with a grunt, turning and heading back into the ship. Liara had wanted to see her as soon as possible, something about the Council wanting to speak to her.

* * *

10 Minutes of elevator music later and Zaire made it to the small collection of rooms Liara had taken for her own on the crew deck. Nodding to the two commandos that were standing guard, Zaire heading in, finding her Asari at the small bank of computer screens that had been attached to the same desk she had been at for the last week.

"Liara?"

When given no answer, Zaire walked up to her Asari and noticed that she was slumped slightly on the desk, gentle snoring indicating that she had fallen asleep while working. Again.

Instead of waking her up, Zaire turned to look at what she had been focusing on.

2 of the monitors was what Liara had on Orthius, but the others had data on the Council. With notes on meetings and separate opinions of the individual Councilors, as well as the Board of Directors.

One of the monitors was displaying the transcript of a private Council meeting. Unsurprisingly, the topic was Zaire herself, though what was surprising was what they were talking about her for.

Apparently they wanted to speak with her personally and Zaire had to repress a snort of amusement, imagining how a in person meeting with the Citadel Council would go.

Though as she thought about it, talking with them now would be useful, she could make it clear that she didn't want her job as a Spectre back, at least no now.

She could also get the Asari to back off as well. She and Liara couldn't settle down on Thessia if the republic was sending assasins after her.

And from what Liara could see, the Alliance was being handled well enough without necessary intervention, leaving them with their focus on getting the Asari Republic sorted out.

But before Zaire could think any more on the subject, Liara's breathing pattern changed, and Zaire knew she was about to wake.

"It's okay Li, it's only me."

Her Asari mumbled something as she slowly opened her eyes and sat up, clearly still tired.

Zaire quietly ordered Glyph to save and shut down the monitors, and gently picked up her girlfriend, who snuggled into her neck and fell back asleep.

Though Zaire hadn't lied to Aria when she that she had a million and one things to do, Zaire still climbed into bed after laying Liara down, and wrapped her arms around her Asari and began to doze.

Though she still had nightmares often, Liara could normally sense her bondmate's fear and unconsciously meld with her, soothing her mind and keeping her sleep peaceful.

And after a few minutes, Zaire joined Liara in sleep, both feeling content that they had a future together to look forward to. Without Reaper, Assasins and mercenaries getting in the way.

* * *

 **12.03.0005**

 **Thessia** \- **location unknown**

The Holo flickered to life as the QEC gained input from the other end.

"Athames ass. You really do want me to go though with this, don't you?"

The speaker was angry, though at what was unclear.

"Of course, Asari superiority is threatened. There is only one course of action."

The other voice, older, didn't care who lived or died, so long as the objective was completed.

"I don't care about the Human, I'm talking about the location."

The older speaker didn't care about the location either.

"She will be there soon, and Shepard will most likely be aware of our actions. We must deal with her quickly before she tells the rest of the Council."

"Fine, I'll get it done, though it'll be on the Goddess Damn news for months."

"I don't care who knows about it, we cannot allow her to live."

The connection was cut, and the older speaker sighed. The Asari had maintained superior to the other races for over 4,000 years. Some primitive Human would not change that.

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Reviewed, as it seriously helps with motivation.**

 **As always reviews are inspiration and motivation, so please feel free to leave one, even if it's just a 'Good chapter, keep it up' as it really does help.**

 **Please note that up until, and shortly after Christmas that there will be sporadic updates, as we all have family or friends in need help of last minute Christmas decorations.**

 **Happy Christmas to everyone who reads this, even if your reading it a year or two late.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: I apologcze for any weird errors in spelling, as the Kindle Fire came out with a new software update and now half of spell check doesn't work properly. Also, it doesn't work well with Fanfiction anymore either, as the full screen and text selection is messed up. So sorry in advance.

* * *

~ I don't own mass effect, Bioware and EA does ~

* * *

 **14.03.0005 PRW**

 **Omega System**

 **Turian Batte Cruiser**

Liara T'Soni checked her Omni-Tool, noting the separate incoming signals and their locations in the Galaxy. Both her and Zaire were in the Cruisers newly installed Communications Room, which had a state of the art QEC system and holographic projectors. It also allowed them to create 'chat rooms' where multiple people could speak to each other.

"Everything is ready Zaire."

Her bondmate nodded, and rolled her shoulders nervously. Her fingers fiddling with the hem of her new brown leather jacket. Liara had given it to her a few days ago, and she hadn't stopped wearing it since.

Of course, Liara noticed her bondmates nervous movement, and gently spoke.

"You'll be fine, Zaire. They'll be happy to see you again."

Startled, Zaire turned to her Asari, gave a deep breath, and calmed herself down before signalled her to enter the chat room, which was open and occupied.

All she felt was a slight tingle over her bare skin, then.

"-ong are we going fucking to wait?"

A bark of laughter, from Wrex no doubt. He always loved one upping people, whether in battle or in knowledge.

As her image appeared in the screens of her friends around the Galaxy, and Zaire braced herself for the inevitable anger and questions.

Instead there was complete and utter Silence, as those present stared at her, before finally, Garrus sighed.

"You just love surprising us, don't you Shepard?"

Tali, who wasn't wearing her suit, but instead tight but clearly removable clothing, was 'standing' next to him, and was clearly grinning, sharp teeth and slightly glowing eyes visible.

"Zaire!"

Around the 'room' her friends gave greetings and smiles, all clearly less surprised than the last time Shepard had returned from the apparent dead.

Garrus, Grunt, Wrex, Tali, Jack, Helen, Joker, EDI, Samara, hell even Javik.

"Hey, where's the Cheerleader?"

Shepard smiled, "dealing with my new ships upgrades."

Joker was the first to respond, "New ship? What, replaced the Normandy already Commander?"

Zaire's arm twitched at the title, though she managed to suppress the grimmice that wanted to emerge as Liara entered the room, her form materialising out of blue pixels.

"Noncence Joker, nothing can compare to the Normandy."

Shepard snorted, "except for a Battle Cruiser."

EDI seemed to perk up at the statement, stepping forward as she spoke.

"A Cruisers emissions were detected in the space around The Stop, yours then?"

Zaire however, grinned. "Not at the time EDI, it belonged to Orthius before I got my hands on it."

There was a bark of laughter from Wrex, and Grunt gave his signature slow chuckle as the rest of the people in the room grinned and shook their heads. Jack somehow looking both slightly impressed and annoyed at the same time.

"I've bumped into their goons over the last three years or so. They fight dirty, though after a while they get predictable" stated Garrus.

Wrex and Grunt nodding as well, voicing their own encounters with the splinter group.

"We've caught a few of their agents as well, trying to gain access to the main Geth Server Hub on Rannoch. They always commit suicide before we can question them. Ocular flash bang, blows their heads clean off."

Joker nodded his head as well, "the soldiers left on the space station did the exact same thing, over 100 of them, real creepy."

Liara nodded, "it was a old Cerberus tactic, though the Council have Agents dealing with them as we speak. It appears that Fleet Master Mikhailovich is behind the group, though his time is running out with the Spectre's closing in."

Jack grunted, "good, the Galaxy will be better off without them assholes pissing on it."

Zaire however, snorted in amusement, "I won't hold my breath, the Council has problems putting their credits where their mouths are."

There was a general rumble of amusement. It was a favorite past time of Zaire to insult the Council, though before Zaire and Jack could get carried away, Helen Chakwas spoke up.

"And how are you doing dear?"

With that Zaire sighed, "that is why I wanted to call all of you. You guys deserve to know before anyone else."

She turned and nodded to her Asari girlfriend, who typed something into her Omni-Tool.

"As a few of you already know, I have previously unknown cybernetics integrated into my body."

There was a rumble as those around the room looked to each other in an effort to see who knew what was going on.

In the center of the room, Zaire's cybernetics flashed into existence, slowly rotating as everyone checked Omni-Tools and data pads. Looking over the data Liara had sent them.

Chakwas spoke first, concern in her voice as she gave her personal analysis.

"Looks to me to be mostly advanced combat Cybernetics, your biotics will no doubt be different, and you have far more densely compacted muscle tissue. Skeletal reinforcement means your bones are stronger, and it looks like filters in you stomach and lungs are designed to stop toxic chemicals."

Zaire nodded in agreement, though Javik spoke up before she could continue.

"These look like nanites, I wasn't aware this cycle was capable of creating these yet."

Another flash of blue pixels announced Miranda's arrival, and she spoke even as her form was rendered.

"Oh we are, just not on a molecular level. These make the ones Cerberus used for Lazarus look primitive, which really, they were."

She ignored Jack when the convict turned teacher muttered something about barging in on their conversation. Though she did return the rude gesture the tattooed woman sent her.

Now fully rendered, she typed something into her Omni-Tool, and the skeletal figure that was slowly spinning stopped, enlarged itself, the split into three sections. The first was the skull, with the biotic amp and greybox.

The second showed Zaire's torso and arms, information on her subdermal armour, her cybernetic additions to her heart, lungs and stomach. As well as information on her new 'touch point' hacking capabilities.

The third section was on her legs and feet, and the information was on her enhanced muscles and bones, as well as the nanites that helped with both maintenance and boost her healing speed.

A fourth piece of information appeared separate to the rest, which depicted Zaire's 'cleaner DNA'.

There was a moment where everyone, including Javik, simply stared. Though EDI was the quickest to regain her senses.

"Intriguing."

Zaire gave a small snort. Personally, she thought that it was a waste. It wasn't as if she was going to be using any of her new abilities any time soon. Though with her new life span, who knew?

Miranda had her hands on her hips, looking proud of herself.

Helen however, wasn't looking at the data anymore, and instead was watching Zaire and Liara, how they interacted, how they looked at each other. And was happy at what she saw.

With both Human and Asari in the same place in the real world, they were holding hands calmly. Clearly any emotional problems that this news had caused was being dealt with properly. Which was a relief, as in the past Zaire had the habit of going off on her own when dealing with her emotional problems.

"Why is it Zaire who always gets the cool upgrades?"

The smile on Zaire's face turned to a glare, which was promptly aimed at Joker for the stupid comment.

"As much as I would like to say this is it, it's not."

"What else has been done, were you given wings or something?" Jack asked.

Zaire sighed, and instead held out her hand.

Next to the data in the center, a new person entered the call, the glow of blue pixels unable to hide the strange appearance of the alien as the 3D model rendered.

"This, is the Operating System, or OS for short. He's a AI, and he lives inside my new greybox."

There was another pause, which were becoming standard for whenever Zaire has something to share, and the shackled AI took the silence as his cue to speak.

-Greetings-

There was another pause before Javik spoke up, glaring at the shackled AI with irritaiion.

"What is it with this cycle and ignoring the dangers of Artificial Intelligence?"

Jack speaking seconds later, "that thing is inside your head? Jesus Christ! And I thought my head was fucked!"

EDI looked more excited than anything, probably hoping she had someone that could keep up with her when she was talking about her theories on organic behavior.

Everyone else had a face of concern to some degree. Though Zaire spoke up before they could get carried away.

"OS is shackled. As a AI it's self aware but it has restrictions in place to prevent the problems I'm sure all of you are trying to conjure up."

It took over half an hour for Zaire and Liara, with the help of OS, to explain everything from start to finish on how she got the upgrades, why OS was necessary, and everything that had happened since Zaire had woken up.

By the end of it all everyone was at least satiafied that Zaire wasn't about to be controlled by the AI, and Zaire could finally get to the topic she had wanted to discuss in the first place.

"The Asari Matriarchs are hoping to remove me to maintain the advantage of superior age in the Galaxy. I'm hoping that the Fucking Council will deal with it, but I won't hold my breath, so I need contingency plans. Thus, I decided to call all of you for help."

Naturally, Wrex was the first to respond, "whatever you need Shepard, I'll do my best to get it to you."

Zaire smiled, having Wrex and the Krogan on her side would be immensely helpful.

"Some Krogan muscle would be appreclated Wrex. You know how the most simplistic of operations can go, so some reinfoscements would be good."

Both Tali and Garrus pledged their aid if needed, and the rest added in their own support.

Samara however, surprised her by speaking up.

"The Matriarch's are using their power for personal gain, as well as using it against those who are innoceot. With your permission Shepard, I will have two Justicars escorte you on the Citadel."

Zaire was stunned, as was most of the people in the room. Samara seemed confused, though Liara spoke before she could ask why.

"They would be greatly appreciated, Justicar Samara."

Seeming to be happy with the response, the elder Asari drew back into the background.

Zaire sighed, feeling more tired than she had in a while, though she also felt as if a hundred ton weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

It was another 30 minutes of catching up with everyone before Liara noticed Zaire was swaying on her feet slightly. Though a quick meld revealed that she was simply exhausded. Deciding that everything was going fine, she asked through the meld if she would like to retire for the day.

Zaire was quick to answer, "Right, Liara can coordanate things, I'm in sore need of a few hours sleep."

Saying goodbye, and promising to Samara that they would tell her where they were planning on staying on the Citadel, Zaire let Liara guide her out of the communications room, and into the elevator.

By the time Liara had gotten her to their bed, she had fallen asleep before her head could hit the pillow.

* * *

 **13.03.0005 PRW**

 **Sol System** \- **Orbit around Earth**

A large Human walked into the command deck of the small Frigate. The STG had loaned it to them for the mission. Pausing to check something on his Omni-Tool, the Human gave a small grunt of amusement, before continuing towards the Salarian in black and yellow armour.

"What have we got?"

Spectre Jondum Bau turned to greet the large Human N7 Commander. Nodding his head in acknowledgement of his presence.

"Judging from the new data tap, we now have the financial evidence needed to prove both Makhailvoch and two of the other admirals responsible for Orthius."

Vega frowned, "which one's being difficult?"

The Spectre frowned as well, "Admiral Silvia, she seemed to predict an investigation and was destroying evidence far before we got involved."

The large Human shrugged his massive arms, "from what I understand they pissed off someone, I imagine that Silvia was simply expecting retaliition."

The Salarian Spectre blinked once, before nodding his horned head. Clearly thinking over the small tip bit of information, "would explain increase security and overly cautious behavior. You wouldn't know who they had angered?"

Vega shook his head, lieing through his teeth, "nope, above my pay grade."

The elder Salarian sighed, "then that makes our job a bit harder then. Makhailvoch is getting restless, could run at any moment."

A ping on his console caused him to turn away from the N7, and Bau frowned at the message. It was from the Shadow Broker, tagged as relative to his investigation, which meant that there was another leak in Citadel Intelligence.

Opening the message, Bau read the text, and was surprised at the offering.

"Appears that the Admirality board angered the Shadow Broker, he has just sent us new information, could be useful."

Intriged, Vega walked up beside him to look for himself, and stared at the neatly organiaed files and documentations, as well as personal vid recordings between the board. The Human grinned, folding his arms as he reads one of the files on Orthius, how they had been Cerberus resources, and how they had been Alliance before that.

"Well, that's got to be helpful."

Instead of replying, the Spectre instead moved though the information and pulled up Admiral Silvia's file. There wasn't much there, but more than what Bau had before, which was an improvement if it turned out to be genuine. Though why the Shadow Broker was sending him classified intelligence on a target only the Council should know was an actual target was troubling. Broker Info was never cheap this high up.

Sitting back in his chair, the aging Salarian Spectre sighed. As the Human saying went, he was getting far too old for this shit.

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Reviewed, as it seriously helps with motivation.**

 **As always reviews are inspiration and motivation, so please feel free to leave one, even if it's just a 'Good chapter, keep it up' as it really does help and Happy New Year! Or what ever...**

 **~ JunkMail**


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: I would just like to say thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this story. Seriously, this story just hit _11,000_ views and I'm honestly stunned. So to those who Reviewed, followed, favorited or just stopped by to see what all the fuss was about, thank you all!

* * *

~ I don't own mass effect, Bioware and EA does ~

* * *

 **21.03.0005 PRW**

 **Citadel Docks**

Yano L'voke checked her rifle, making sure that everything was in order. After all, it wasn't everyday that you got to be escorted by Asari Justicars, and despite their low numbers after the War, they are still considered to be some of the most deadly warriors the Asari ever produced.

Personally however, she was worried. Zaire was being hunted by some of the best hunters in the Republic. Justicar escort or not, if they were confronted here, there would be casualties, not to mention unwanted media attention.

The crowd that until then had been steadily flowing around the docking platforms suddenly changed, putting Yano on alert as everyone seemed to move out of the way of a four person group. Though Yano relaxed slightly as the four Justicars, including Justicar Samara, appeared from the crowd and walked towards her, the Asari Commando subconsciously straightened as the deadly group stopped in front of her.

Justicar Samara stepped forward, her every movement graceful and flowing as she spoke, her face expressionless, her three compatriots keeping back slightly, creating a small space between them and the moving crowd.

"Please inform Zaire that we are here and ready to move at her desecration, Commander."

Yano simply nodded, her helmet hiding her slightly nervous expression as she hit the all clear on her comm. Letting Zaire know that it was time to go.

The door behind her opened a few seconds later, revealing Zaire in her usual combat trousers and leather jacket, her old Dark Katanas strapped to her back by two leather belts. Zaire had thought them lost in the battle for Earth back in the War, but apparently Liara had managed to recover them, and they had been a surprise gift while they had been on Omega.

After the original Normandy had been destroyed, her original Katanas had gone with her. So after her revival at the hands of Cerberus, Zaire had decided to put her old training as a blade smith to use, and had started creating a new pair.

While on Omega to recruit Mordin, Garrus and Zaeed, Zaire had found some scrap metal that had been from Sovereigns armour plating. Buying the scraps, Zaire had spent weeks trying to mould the metal into blades, though even today, nothing is as kinetic, biotic and heat resistant as Reaper Dark Metal.

After finally having to buy specialised equipment located on the black market by Liara, after helping her defeat the old Shadow Broker, Zaire had finally managed to mould and sharpen the Dark Metal into two short but deadly monomolecular Katana.

Even after all the use throughout the Collectors and Reaper War, they had yet to be needed to be sharpened. The Dark Metal proving resistant to even Asari Warp Swords, which were famed for being able to slice through almost anything. Zaire had been resistant to taking them with her to see the Council, but after a long talk with Liara, she had conceded that they were both useful as a weapon and a intimidation tactic.

They had also decided that her arriving in full armour would have sent the wrong message, and that her escort of Asari Commandos and Justicars would be enough physical protection.

Liara was standing beside her bondmate, dressed in her form fitting white and blue outfit, which Yano knew was reinforced with stab proof and bullet resistant materials. Zaire smiled at Justicar Samara, and to the Commandos surprise, the elder Asari returned the gesture with both a small smile and a slight nod of respect.

Two of her own Commandos walked out last, and would be accompanying Yano in the secondary car that would be following behind Zaire as back up, ready to join the Human and the Justicars in a moments notice.

Zaire nodded in respect to the three other Justicars, and politely gestured with her arm towards the docks exit.

"Please, lead the way."

Turning on their heals, the Asari entourage surrounded the single Human and her Asari partner, and headed off, the crowd parting for the armed escort.

* * *

"The targets in sight, but we have a fucking problem."

"Problem?"

"Yeah, a four Justicar escort problem, plus three heavily armed Commandos."

...

"Do you have a shot?"

"Fuck no, goddess damned Justicars are in the way."

"Then we go to plan B."

"Copy that. Fuck."

* * *

The armed escort made it through the docks security points slowly, though Liara had used her contacts to get them entry, C-Sec was dragging their feet in the matter, clearly not happy with the armed, armoured and biotic heavy escort Zaire had brought.

The Council would no doubt be watching their every move by now, and Liara thought that forcing them through so many security check points instead of sending someone to help was probably a tactic to show Zaire their own power.

Though from first glance Zaire appeared relaxed and in control, she was subtlety keeping an eye on the balconies and ledges around her. Her instincts were screaming at her that something was off, but she couldn't spot anything out of the norm.

Finally clearing the last check point, 2 pre-rented armoured skycars were waiting. Zaire and Liara joined Samara and one of her Justicars in the first skycar, while Yano, her Commandos, and the remaining two Justicars used the second, where they would follow slightly behind them.

By then C-Sec had finally got their act together and 3 marked skycars moved around them, providing a escort through the dense traffic. They moved quickly, as Media reporters would no doubt have realised who had just boarded their station and be waiting for her at the presidium.

* * *

"Target is in the red and black skycar, confirm?"

"I see them. C-Sec is providing an escort."

"Do you have a shot?"

"I have a clear shot at the engine block."

"Copy, we have people in all nearby buildings and crash points. Take the shot."

* * *

Zaire was sitting in the back with Liara sitting next to her. Samara and one of her Justicars were in the driver's and passengers seat. Despite the enclosed and sealed space, Zaire's enhanced hearing picked up the muffled boom of a heavy sniper rifle, and reacted instinctively. Her new, white biotics exploded forth and created a bubble around her and Liara. Seconds later and the skycar lurched to the left, half the engine exiting with the heavy sniper round.

Samara immediately realised that staying in the air was impossible and roughly guided the failing car towards the nearest wide open space, which was a small park that sat between two residential blocks. The Justicar in the passenger seat using her biotics to help dampen the crash.

The people who had previously been enjoying a peaceful day at the park looked up in fear as a flaming skycar screamed past, trailing smoke and being followed by three C-Sec patrol cars. Many ducking for cover as the skycar hit the ground, earth and grass spewing up as the car slides across the open field, narrowly missing a Turian couple and their kid, before coming to a stop a few feet from a children's playground.

Inside, Zaire coughed as smoke started to fill the inside of the car, and she grunted as she detached her seatbelt and pushed the door open. The smoke slowly started to funnel out of the gap, and Zaire saw that both Samara and Liara were conscious, though Samara was bleeding from a blow to the head. Samara's companion however, hadn't been as lucky, and was out cold in the passenger seat, a rather obvious hit to the head had knocked her out.

Helping Liara out first, Zaire helped her Bondmate sit against the trench of earth the skycar had made when it landed, before returning to help Samara pull out the unconscious Justicar. They had barely gotten themselves out before a spray of gunfire peppered the grass above their heads, and Zaire managed to spot a few figures in black armour moving towards them from the park entrance and tree line.

Zaire turned and caught one of Liara's pistols as her bondmate joined her at the edge of the trench, popping up to fire. "Who's shooting at us?"

Zaire grunted as she leaned over the edge and fired towards the tree line. "Hell if I know. Just keep them occupied." She ducked again as one of the hostiles focused on her.

Hitting her comm, she flared her biotics and threw a warp, which caused one of the nearest of their assailants to dive for cover.

"Zaire?"

Not wasting time, Zaire yelled into the mic as she fired her pistol.

"Yano, where the hell are you?"

The sound of shoes hitting pavement echoed in the background, followed by gunshots indicated that her backup was occupied, and Zaire was temporarily distracted as she dealt with one of their assailants who had gotten the smart idea to flank.

"We landed just outside the park entrance, but there was a rear guard. Right now we're working our way past the entrance gate."

Taking a moment to look, Zaire could make out a small group rushing though the gates, and Zaire took the opportunity to get a look at their attackers.

Human, Batarians, Drell or Asari.

Considering who's government hit list she was currently on, she was going to take a wild stab in the dark and guess that they were Asari Republic Commandos, and if they were here, then chances were that a Justicar, a Huntress and a former Commando turned spy master were heading the attack.

Ducking as more concentrated suppressive fire was sent her way, Zaire mentally calculated the distance between them and their assailants, which OS confirmed with its own calculations.

"Yano, keep up the rear attack, we'll push towards you and pin them between us. Be on the look out, there should be specialists, if you see them, don't engage, call for back up and let me deal with them. Understand?"

"Copy that, good luck boss."

The comm went dead as the Asari Commander cut the connection, and Zaire turned to Samara, who was now helping her Asari girlfriend. Biotic attacks were now getting thrown both ways, and Zaire was internally glad that she was convinced to bring her swords. Patching into their internal comms, Zaire let her biotics flare.

"They're getting close enough for me to Charge them, both of you cover me."

Receiving two acknowledgments, Zaire waited a few seconds, and then shifted her shoulders to activate the mnemonic for a Charge, and promptly disappeared in a flash of white light and a sonic boom.

There was something unique about the feeling you get while you charge, and despite the upgrades and five years of inactivity, the feeling hadn't changed. Before she had died, Zaire hadn't been able to Charge with any damaging effect, however, after the Cerberus upgrades, she had managed to create enough force to cause people to stumble. So when Zaire Charged towards one of the nearest opponent, she had expected another slight boost in power. What she didn't expect however, was to send her target flying through a tree, sending large splinters everywhere, and talking out a second Commando who had been hiding behind said tree.

Stumbling slightly, Zaire stared in shock for a second. Though she quickly came to her senses and dived over the remaining stump, dodging a burst of rifle fire and Charged again. Reappearing behind the unlucky enemy who had shot at her and drew one of her swords, pivoted on her heel and sliced through the Commandos armoured neck, killing her instantly.

The other Republic Commandos had managed to track her movements, and they opened fire, forcing Zaire to Charge again. Getting to cover, Zaire used her spare hand to pull out and fire her pistol, though the Commandos Kenetic barriers stopped her shots, it still forced them to cover.

Liara and Samara had used her distraction to their advantage, and they had closed the gap between them and their attackers before unleashing their biotics, sending waves of Warpfire and biotic Shockwaves into the wooded area, burning the vegetation and obliterating trees and enemies alike.

* * *

"Assault team, what's your status? Is the target eliminated?"

 _Gunfire_

"Negative! Target is moving to fast to pin down!"

 _More Gunfire_

"Crap! The Commando and Justicar teams have pined us in the forest!"

"Last reports indicated that the target was unarmoured and unable to use her biotics, what's the problem?"

 _More gunshots and screams of pain_

"Reports were inaccurate! Target has full biotic ability, she's literary cutting through us!"

"What about OverWatch?"

"OverWatch isn't responding!"

...

"Standby."

...

"OverWatch what's your status?"

...

"OverWatch?"

"Nice try Sey'sa, but your not killing my kid's bondmate."

...

"Aethyta. I shouldn't be surprised. You always were disloyal to the republic."

"Ha, and you shouldn't be either? Wasn't the Order originally created to watch the fucking Republic as an independent body in the first place?"

...

"I'm not doing this for the Republic, I'm doing this for the Asari people."

"Sure, keep telling yourself that, bitch."

* * *

Zaire grunted as she stabbed her blades through the back of another of their attackers, twisting the body around to absorb the fire of another Commando. Most of their assailants were dead on the artificial forest floor. But a sizable amount had rallied into a corner and had hunkered down, probably waiting on reinforcements. That was fine with her, she had her own reinforcements coming.

Liara was off to her left, alternating between firing her pistols and hurling heavy biotic strikes at the entrenched Republic Commandos. Samara had met up with her Justicars and had formed a defensive circle around the downed skycar and their unconscious compatriot. Which left Yano and her Commandos to help Zaire deal with any strays.

Dropping the dead body, Zaire sent a pull field towards the Commando that had fired at her, dragging the Asari off her feet and sailing through the air towards Zaire's waiting blades.

"Samara, how's your unconscious friend?"

The Asari Justicar responded over the comm a moment later.

"She will live, however I'm seeing two sets of skycars approaching. They do not appear to be C-Sec."

Pausing, Zaire sheathed her blades and started to head back towards the crashed skycar.

"What colours?"

Another few seconds of silence, and Zaire takes the time to inform Yano and Liara of possible enemy reinforcements before the Justicar responds.

"Two are solid black, no identifying markings and the others are Brown with green highlights."

Getting out of the trees, Zaire spots the Justicar team and heads over, her eyes on the black skycars moving towards them.

"Brown and green is our reinforcements, blacks unknown, presume hostile until proven otherwise."

The black skycars flew past Zaire's head, it's course heading straight for the pinned Commandos. The Brown and green skycars however, landed around Samara and her Justicars. The doors opening to reveal Krogan in heavy battle armour, the patch on their shoulders indicating they were the Krogan Embassy Guard, with a familiar Krogan with blue eyes at the front.

"Shepard!"

Zaire grunted as Grunt 'tapped' her on the arm. She never did get Jack back for introducing the young Krogan to the more violent of Human greetings.

"Good to see you Grunt."

"Zaire!"

Zaire spotted Yano and her Commandos, followed by Liara as they retreated to their reinforcements. The Republic Commandos obviously gaining confidence in numbers and had pushed them back, creating a new battle line.

At the front of the new line if black armour were two of the three Asari Zaire had been keeping an eye out for. Justicar Sey'sa and Asari Huntress Moeso T'raoza, where Aethyta Visir was Shepard didn't know, but where those two Asari were, Liara's father couldn't be far way.

Samara joined her and Grunt in their impromptu seace fire. She was openly glaring at the other Justicar, and Zaire hadn't seen Samara show this much expression since the War.

T'raoza drew her Warp Sword, and Zaire unconsciously unsheathed her own, holding them in a reverse grip while her biotics slowly flared. The white biotic mist crawled down her arms, hands, and finally her blades, giving them a ghostly appearance as Zaire slowly spun them in small circles.

"Samara, you take the Justicar embarrassment, I've got the Huntress, Grunt, leave nothing but us standing."

"He he he."

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review,** **Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more. Guests can leave one as well, and it only takes a minute,** **even if it's just a 'Good chapter, keep it up' as it really does help.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: So, this story recently hit 11,000 views, now coming up on 12,000, and with chapter 16 we hit 50 reviews. To show my appreciation I'm uploading this chapter early. This story is coming to a close within a couple chapters, and its been awsome ride writing this for you people. There will be more of this Universe, but also a new one as well. "Hint hint"

* * *

~ I don't own mass effect, Bioware and EA does ~

* * *

 **21.03.0005**

 **The Citadel**

 **Private Hotel Room**

The Report came over the comm, and Ashley Williams unconsciously straightened slightly.

Zaire Shepard had been spotted exiting the Docks.

There was a pause, followed by a scramble to get her team notified, as apparently Shepard couldn't have been bothered to let them know she was arriving in advance. Which meant that the Council had to cut short one of their meetings and the Board had to move from their respective posts and head for the Tower.

More accurate information came up, and Ashley pulled up her Omni-Tool. From where Zaire had managed to secure an escort of Asari Commandos and Justicars the second Human Spectre didn't know, but the Council ordered C-Sec to slow them down while they discussed the implications and The Board rushed to QECs or shuttles.

Personally, Ashley was agitated. Shepard had brought Asari Special Forces to the Citadel, one of the safest places in the Galaxy, to speak with the top Galactic Government. What the hell was she thinking?

As the Spectre monitored the situation on her Omni-Tool, the rest of her team showed up. They were all armed and armoured to some degree, though lighter than normal, as they had been staying off the Normandy, and instead had been staying in a hotel owned by the Council and was used for Spectres who were staying on the Citadel for long periods.

It was then that the Council sent their orders, telling Ash to head for the private Council Chambers, and that the rest of her team was to wait outside the Presidium Tower entrance. Reinforcing the Guards posted there while Williams would help guard the Council themselves.

The group barely spoke to each other, moving around their floor of rooms, collecting thermal clips and securing their armour and weapons as quickly and efficiently as any species special forces team. Privately, Ashley was extremely proud of the team she had created, but outwardly she kept her focus on her own problems.

All of them were ready to go within minutes, and as one group they exited the hotel and entered a large SkyVan, setting course for the Presidium Tower.

* * *

It took them 10 minutes to get to the main entrance for the Presidium, and Ashley parked the Van in a spot reserved for Spectres. Her team quickly spread out, with Merbon and Genenis heading for the doors while the rest spread into the crowd, disappearing into the general public. Ashley herself headed for a side door that would lead her to the private elevators that would take her to the Council.

The Second Human Spectre kept an eye on her Omni-Tool, and noticed that Shepard had gotten through security quicker that expected. She also realized that Liara was with the First Human Spectre, hidden within the Asari Commandos and Justicars.

Entering the elevator and hitting the button for the private conference rooms, Ashley didn't bother to watch the doors close. Instead she pulled up the Docks security camera network and watched as Zaire, Liara and two Justicars get in one armoured Skycar, while the Commandos and remaining Justicars get in another, with C-Sec providing an escort through traffic.

Flicking though her options, Ashley selected the C-Secs comms and listened to the constant updates they supplied while the elevator took its time. While she listened, the Spectre pulled up facial recognition software on her Omni-Tool and ran both the Commandos and the Justicars.

One of the Justicars was identified first. Justicar Samara, at 800 years old, she was almost a Matriarch, and had an excellent record. She was also identified as one of the people who was seen working with Shepard while she was with Cerberus, and was apparently with the Spectre when she claimed to go though the Omega-4 relay.

Another hit just as Williams finished reading the Justicars summary. This time one of the Commandos, a Yano L'voke. She was a former Republic Commando, who was also noted for her high leadership skills and had apparently abandoned the Republic to fight in the War. She was apparently a friend and contact of Shepards, though Ashley hadn't ever heard of her.

The rest were skilled Asari combatants, all with special forces training and had all fought at significant battles in the Reaper War. The Asari Commandos were a Known Mercenary Force that was famed for their skill against the IR. It appeared that Shepard had called in some favours.

"Sniper fire, Sniper fire! Priority Skycar is hit and losing altitude!"

Ashley immediately snapped her attention back to the C-Sec comms, a paled slightly at what she started to hear filter down.

"Second priority is following, we are trailing damaged priority. Biotics appear to be in use."

"Damaged Priority is attempting a crash landing. All local armed units converge on Bachjret sub-park number 223."

"Status of second Priority?"

"Second priority is landing outside the entrance to the park."

"Gunfire, gunfire! Figures in armour are attacking crash site, Priority 1 and escort are returning fire!"

A new voice on the comms spoke up, Asari, sounding authoritative as she spoke.

"All units remove civilians from the hotzone and form a perimeter, a proper armed response will deal with the hostiles. Do not engage. I repeat do not engage!"

The elevator doors opened and the second Human Spectre wasted no time in storming out, still listening to the reports via a earpiece. Walking down the hallway as fast as she could, Ashley reached the correct room quickly and swiped her Omni-Tool to unlock the door.

"Dispatch we have wounded civilians, children of multiple species, requesting immediate ambulances and medical teams."

Pausing just as her hand hovered on the button to open the door, Ashley stopped. She had thought that this was the intervention of the Asari Republic, as Councillor Irissa had warned her about, but government sanctioned operations on the Citadel would never allow civilians to be harmed, never mind children.

Ashley grimaced, she had hoped to stay out of it, but this wasn't what she had been expecting. It took a few seconds of her own mind waring between Duty to her respective bosses and Duty to the people she was meant to protect. A slightly disturbing amount of time in retrospect, but she eventually came to the inevitable answer.

Turning on her heels, Ashley re-entered the elevator and hit the button to return to the ground floor. Her team would be invaluable to cover any stranded civilians and the park was barely 5 minutes in a Skycar. While silently cursing whoever invented slow elevators, she contacted her team and informed them of her decision.

Finding no complaints, they started to head for the SkyVan they had previously used, and Ashley continued to monitor the situation though C-Sec.

Eventually exiting the elevator, the Human Spectre moved at a fast pace, and managed to catch her team just as they were getting into the SkyVan. Which took off a few seconds later, the group wasting no time in rushing to what was now being described as a war zone.

From her Omni-Tool, Ashley heard the report of the action taking place, and she picked up the pace when reports of Zaire engaging in close combat came through. Williams had seen Zaire's katanas strapped on her back when she had watched the security footage, and she was unsurprised when reports of heavy casualties were being dealt to the attackers.

They were barely two minutes away when thing went bad to worse. Reports of skycars breaching the perimeter, one set of unknown blacked out SkyVans. The others where registered to the Krogan Embassy, not good.

The entire comm channel practically exploded with chatter as a previously small group of special forces clashing with one another suddenly turned into an all out war. Ashley was close enough to see the smoke rising from between two residential blocks, and the hundreds of flashes of gunfire and biotics seemed to only hint at the full extent of the badly out of control situation.

Landing just outside the perimeter, Ashley wasted no time and grabbed her rifle, hauled herself out of the van, and rushed towards the line of C-Sec personal. A Turian Officer moved to intercept, but a wave of her credentials and her was giving her directions.

C-Sec apparently had enough SWAT on site to contain the situation, but the addition of Krogan made intervention impossible. Instead they were keeping the war as contained as possible, with snipers setting up in nearby buildings.

Reaching the gate to the park, Ashley's team spread out and took positions to overlap firing lines, and Ashley finally got a look at the devastation Shepard had created. Most of the artificial forest was burnt to the ground, with dead Asari in black armour strewn around the area, either on fire, were on fire or missing a head.

Out by what appeared to used to be a children's playground was a group of armour clad Asari, Zaire's Commandos, and were using the position to prevent flanking.

In the thick of the fight were the Krogan, practically a wall of armour and shotguns, they were steadily advancing forward. The Asari Justicars providing a biotic shield to protect them from enemy biotics.

And in the middle of it all were four figures. A quick look was enough to identify Zaire, who was locked in a sword fight with another Asari with a Warp sword. Another two Asari were fighting each other close by, and on closer inspection Ashley realised they were both dressed as Justicars.

Deciding that the chances of getting shot by Zaire's Commandos were less than the Black clad ones, Ashley gestured for her team to circle the war zone. If she could make contact with Zaire or Liara, she could get a better understanding of what was going on, and how to stop the fight from escalating further.

* * *

 **Zaire Shepard**

* * *

Dodging a horizontal swipe, Zaire's knees hit the ground and thrusted her hand up, her biotics striking out and hitting The Huntresses armoured chest, giving Zaire the time to get back to her feet and prep for the next attack.

They were evenly matched, mostly. T'roaza had hundreds of years of experience, and she was in armour. Zaire had greater speed and reaction time, with the knowledge of multiple sword techniques, she was, however, in a leather jacket and pants.

Bringing both blades up, Zaire blocked a overhead downward strike, and locked her blades with T'roazas. Bringing her foot up, Zaire kicked the Asari backwards, again aiming for the chestplate. The strike hit, and Zaire used the gained momentum to go on the offensive.

Zaire's biotics had always been unique, with a eerie intelligence that Zaire had always used to her advantage. However, her new upgrades took it to a whole new level. They felt like an extension of her body, like a third arm, and with OS in the background subtly directing them for her, they were truly unique.

Even as Zaire moved forward to strike, they actively moved around her body, increasing and decreasing her mass to help her strike faster, hit harder, and with less energy wasted. Most of it was done with OS's help, who was actively boosting certain parts of her cyberware to give her every advantage she could get.

Speeding forward, she flipped her swords into reverse grips, pivoted on her balls of her feet, and jumped. Bringing her katana down as she descended on the Huntress.

The Asari blocked her first strike, but failed to track her second blade, and Zaire continued her spin and sliced through her left legs armour plating, neatly slicing the Asari's leg muscles.

Said Asari grunted in pain, hopping back on her good foot as she gingerly tested her leg. Though her eyes never left Zaire and her sword remained in a defensive position. Though she kept her focus on Zaire, she didn't see what was happening behind her, and Zaire watched as Samara dealt a serious biotic blow against Sa'sya and sent the disgraced Justicar hurtling into the unsuspecting Huntress.

Both Asari went down in a tangle of limbs, and Zaire used the time to take a breathe while both Asari attempted to disentangle themselves from each other, Zaire took a moment to take stock of her surroundings.

Grunt had apparently taken the order to 'leave nothing standing' to heart and had razed what was left of the forest to the ground. He had then formed a line of Krogan, who were shoulder to shoulder, and the Justicars had moved behind the wall of Krogan, providing biotic support, while the line was advancing on the Republic Commandos, who were starting to see the futility of their actions.

She was so distracted by the Krogan that she didn't see the two Asari getting up, the Huntress spitting blue blood from her mouth and wiping her face with the back of her hand.

The disgraced Justicar sent Samara flying with a Shockwave - Push combo, and they both charged towards Shepard, the Huntress slowing due to her leg wound.

Though just as Sa'sya got within a few feet, her biotics swirling round her fist as she prepared to strike, an incredibly loud boom sounded, and the disgraced Justicar ... Sa'sya's head disappeared in a blue mist of Asari blood. The body still in motion, and with no brain to command the body, it fell to the ground, sliding forwards and landing at Zaire's feet.

Standing next to both Yano L'Voke and Liara T'Soni was Ashley Williams, her team assisting in moving civilians who had gotten trapped in the cross fire out of the way. But none of them had fired the shot, it was Aethyta Visir, holding a anti-material sniper rifle. Probably the same one that shot her skycar down in the first place.

T'roaza had frozen in place, clearly surprised to see the Matriarch. She also noticed that she was out numbered, out gunned, and with a debilitating injury. Clearly she knew she was beaten, as she placed the Warp Sword on the ground and placed her hands in the air in surrender.

While Aethyta roughly restrained T'roaza with the help of L'Voke and Williams, Liara went straight to Zaire, a worried look on her face.

"The Republic Commandos are surrounded, if you call off Grunt they'll most likely surrender to us."

Zaire didn't respond, but she still watched as another of the Republic's Commandos fall to a shotgun blast, the Krogan were looking eager to finish them off. The Justicars looking no different, if less emotional about it.

Liara frowned with worry when her bondmate didn't respond, and that feeling grew in size when Zaire didn't seem to care, and she decided to gently initiated a meld, probing for permission to enter.

Though there were walls, more that there had been, Zaire let them down the instant Liara touched them, and she saw that Zaire wasn't really seeing the present battle in front of them.

Instead there were flashes of the deaths of her Parents, Kaiden, her Adoptive Parents, Anderson, Mordin and Thane, and then lists of those who hadn't survived the Reapers invasion. Her mind was struggling and acting out instinctively, and she being forced to relive seriously painful memories. Liara's heart broke at the feeling of despair and sheer tiredness, as her bondmate had clearly not been psychologically prepared for another battlefield.

The Asari gently used her connection with her love to replace the terrible memories with loving ones of her own, memories of them in bed, on the presidium, on the SR one and two.

Slowly Zaire pulled herself out of her own mind, and embraced her soul with Liara's, seeking a Pease she hadn't felt since Eden Prime. The Reapers were gone, but they still hunted her mind. To Zaire, she had woken 5 years after fighting non-stop for so long, she was simply unable to cope with it all.

 _"Just make it all go away. Please, make it stop."_

Turning to Yano she gave the order Zaire couldn't. The Asari Commander nodded and Williams went with the Asari to send the order for sese fire. The two acknowledging the need for privacy, even if it was temporary.

They stayed in the meld even as they were transported to the Krogan Embassy. Wrex and Grunt personally telling both the Council and the Board to piss off.

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review,** **Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more. Guests can leave one as well, and it only takes a minute,** **even if it's just a 'Good chapter, keep it up' as it really does help.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	18. Chapter 18

~ I don't own mass effect, Bioware and EA does ~

* * *

 **24.03.0005 PRW**

 **Citadel Embassies**

 **Krogan Embassy**

Zaire didn't know how long they had been at the Krogan Embassy. The Human Embassy had delivered edible food and Zaire had barely left the rooms that Wrex had allocated for her. The bed was comfortable and Liara always stayed with her even as she slept, keeping her exhausted mind from breaking in two. Even now she felt her lovers mind, joined with her own.

Even in her state Zaire knew what was happening to her. PTSD. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The aftermath of so many Soldiers and Civilians alike, their lives after the War scarred.

She had 'talked' with Liara about what it did to humans, and Liara had done some research of her own. She was going to see a psychiatrist on Thessia, if the Council dealt with the Republic properly that is. Said Psychiatrist had apparently dealt with a number of high profile people, and her sessions were being kept off the books to ensure privacy.

The Galaxy at large had been in uproar upon seeing their 'hero' or 'champion' for the first time in five years. Media had been speculating on where she had been and what she was doing.

Stupidly, it had gotten out of C-Sec that the people who had attacked her and had been responsible for such a violent action were the Asari Republic.

Which was as entertaining to watch as a slaver ship crash though orbit. Impossible to look away from, even as you wince in unintended and undeserved sympathy.

Wrex had been very vocal in his anger against the Republic, and according to Liara, there was a few lower Matriarchs on Thessia who had been asking the Shadow Broker on the likelihood of a Krogan invasion of The Asari homeworld.

Liara had replied to the queries with: 'The Krogan are the least of your worries, no one crosses a agent of the Shadow Broker.' Which sent a lot of the smaller Asari household names clamoring to start demanding the heads of the Asari Government, and that meant that there was a good chance that the old bitches in charge were about to lose their jobs, which despite everything made her smile.

The Rachni had also made their displeasure known, and despite their insistence on their continual isolation from the rest of the Galaxy, there were mutterings that Rachni warships had been spotted on the border of Asari space.

The new Quarian/Geth, Vail Alliance had officially cut ties with the Asari Republic until those responsible were extradited to the Citadel for an independent trial, with the Turian Hierarchy making noise of doing something similar.

All in all, the Republic was on increasingly shaky ground, with the Asari people also crying out for a change in management, and C-Sec stepping up their game in getting the names of those who ordered the attack out of T'roaza, with the Shadow Broker confirming it, it was almost a done deal.

Zaire herself wasn't keeping tabs, Liara was doing so better than she ever could. What Zaire was instead focusing on was herself, and her past actions.

She had literary ordered Grunt to kill 100+ Asari Commandos, who had probably only been following orders. Hell, according to C-Sec they hadn't even known she was the target, only that it was high profile and that they were to deal with her escort.

She had done a similar thing before, leaving around 100 humans on a crumbling space station to die. They had been Orthius, sure, but over one hundred people. There was definitely something wrong with her head, and Zaire thought she knew what it was.

She had literary had a time skip from the most desperate time in Citadel history, to peacetime with those same people who she had protected turning on her. She had been force to make choices like letting one thousand innocent civilians die on one world, or a hundred thousand on another. Unlike the rest of the Galaxy, she was still subconsciously in Wartime. She was still thinking in grey areas unnecessarily and that the Reapers were still coming, because unlike everyone else, she hadn't spent five years having it reinforced into her head.

She felt Liara shift in their embrace, and a thought not her own entered her head.

Garrus and Tali.

Yes, one of the two good things to mention. When the news broadcasted the whole thing over the extranet, the Galaxy practically had an aneurysm. But both Tali and Garrus had taken a leave of absence from their respective governments and had used the time to get on a shuttle and come to the Citadel, where they were now dealing with the Council and the Board on Zaire's behalf.

Another thought, this time a combination of both their minds. Asari didn't marry like Humans did, but normally when an Asari met a partner and melded deeply enough they leave a mark, stating to all other Asari that they were 'Bonded'. But Asari still bonded with each other, despite the pure blood stigma, it was mostly considered scandalous in higher house holds. With common Asari, bonding with their own kind was rather common on colony worlds, and some of the more densely populated parts of Thessia too.

These Asari usually spent hundreds of years together, if not their entire lives, and an old but still used union was done when two Asari bonded for life. It was called Aethira. Where each Asari literary imprinted a piece of their deepest mind, some say soul, into the others mind.

While they had been at the embassy, Zaire had shown Liara everything. Even the parts of her life that she commonly suppressed and walled off in fear of hurting her Asari. No walls, there had been nothing between them. When they had both witnessed her pain, watching in detail some of the most horrific and damaging memories Zaire had, Liara in turn, done the same, and they watched as Liara's mother, Benezia, slowly became more detached. When Liara had gone to university, only to be ridiculed by the popular and elite. Watched though the Asari's eyes as her mother died at Novaria and when she saw Zaire in that cryogenic chamber as she handed her to Cerberus.

They didn't realise what they had truly done until they had exited the meld an hour later, and Zaire could still feel Liara's presence, and the Asari feeling Zaire. An hour of extranet reading and a few panicked moments talking to Yano and Wrex. They had eventually discovered that they had accidentally become Aethria, Soul Mates.

They had talked, and agreed that with Zaire's larger life span it had been inevitable. Yano joking that the couple didn't know when to calm down, and Wrex had simply busted one of his spare guts laughing over it. Personally Zaire didn't care what anyone said, she now would always have a piece of the one she loved with her, and Liara thought the same way.

Ashley had apparently tried to get to her, 'to speak' she had claimed. But Wrex had refused, telling her that if Zaire wanted to talk, then she would ask him to contact her. According to what the Broker network could dig up, Williams apparently had some resentment towards Zaire for apparently not being the Alliance ideal she thought she was. That she had really been alive and working for Cerberus after the SR1 had gone down, and that she was working with Orthius now.

She wasn't in any sort of stable mental state to be trying to change that opinion right now, and she was glad that Wrex had gotten her to leave. Never let it be said that Krogan hospitality wasn't friendly.

Another worry she was struggling to deal with was the media. Apparently a bunch of teens had been hanging out at the park, and witnessed the entire thing. All four of them had seen the skycar go down and had started recording it on their Omni-Tools, where they had then continued to record the entire thing from start to finish. Only stopping recording when C-Sec showed up in force. The kids had posted the video online, and it had been as Udina would have said, Goddess Damn his soul, 'a political and media shitstorm'.

She felt Liara shift again, and her lovers face appeared in her line of site, blocking her previous view of the white ceiling.

 _"Stop worrying Zaire, everything is getting taken care of."_

It was slightly disconcerting that her loves lips didn't move, but she fought down a spike of irrational annoyance, it wasn't her it should be aimed at, and it was the PTSD talking anyway.

Liara closed the distance their faces, slowly inching her lips closer and closer, and Zaire could practically feel her Asari's breath against her lips. She locked her lips with Liara's, and the Human forgot she ever thought of anything ever, the bond they shared telling each other exactly what they were feeling, and right now, all Zaire wanted to feel was Love.

* * *

 **26.03.0005 PRW**

 **Citadel Detention cell**

 **C-Sec Main Ward**

Aethyta had expected there to be some uproar when T'roaza, Sa'sya and the Republic Commandos attacked Shepard and her daughter, but She thought it was fair to say that the Galaxies collective Governments getting up and making a line to start giving punches was pretty unexpected, if _unbelievably_ amusing to watch happen on prison TV.

The Krogan, the Rachni, the Quarians, the Geth, the Turians, the Volus, the Hanar. Athames tits, the Asari people were calling for a vote of no confidence. The rest of the Galaxy shouting out in rage and agreement.

Shepard was one hell of a human. She had united a Galaxy to fight an infinite fleet of Dark Gods, and she had won it too. Athames Azure, everyone was practically calling her a mortal goddess. Personally Aethyta hadn't liked Shepard, the alien having disappeared from her daughters life twice, leaving the poor maiden an emotional wreck both times. She had involved her only daughter with Nezzy with dark politics, extremist organizations and a Goddess be damned Galactic War.

She gave a depressed chuckle. She couldn't talk much, as she was being held under arrest and in questioning for possibly assisting in the assault of her own daughters escort. Attacking a Galactic War Hero, and where over 50 Republic Commandos had ended up killed. In a children's playground and park for Goddesses sake.

She had also seen Shepards mental breakdown, and it made Aethyta realise something.

She had originally believed that the human had dragged her forbidden daughter into the whole mess, without the Little Wing having any say in the matter. She had seen the Human as the rest of the Galaxy had, invulnerable, unbeatable. But the way that Shepard had appeared to let Liara guide her to the Embassy skycar, looking dead to the world and clinging on to the maiden as if the galaxy was ending made her realise something.

The Human had been affected by the War just as much as everyone else, if not more so. The choices that the leaders of war make were never morally just, barely grey at best. The choices that Shepard would have been forced to make were probably haunting her, and most likely would for the rest of her short 'by Asari standards' life.

Aethyta was so absorbed into her thoughts that she didn't notice her cell door open, and only realised that there were two Turians in C-Sec armour waiting was when one called her name.

"Matriarch Visir, your bail has been paid, your free to leave."

Frowning, the stubborn matriarch stood up and let the two aliens escort her to the front desk, where a Salarian removed her biotic restraint and a Human behind bullet proof and explosive resistant glass gave her back her Omni-Tool and credit chits that she had on her when she had been formally arrested.

"Who the fuck paid my bail?"

It had better not have been Leneta, her daughter should not be on the Citadel, and if the usually calm but incredibly stubborn matron of hers and Those-Who-Seek-Calm-Dreams had come from her home on Kajhe to only pay her bail, then she was going to have words.

Instead of answering, the Human behind the bullet proof glass pointed at a bulky Asari in black pants and an open blue jacket. She hadn't seen her before, and the Asari had been sitting in a seat in the corner, with a line of sight with all entrances, and when she rose, Aethyta spotted a concealed pistol on each hip.

The Asari herself looked like a matron, or perhaps a older maiden, and Aethyta roughly clipped her Omni-Tool back onto her wrist as she spoke.

"And who in the name of fucking Athame are you?"

The Asari stepped forward, and Aethyta got a good look at her face, she subtly tensed. She had commando markings, but she also noted the colony markings. They were angular, and seemed to highlight the eyes and nose, indicating that she was from the outer colonies.

Then she spoke, "Yano L'Voke, we met at the end of the battle. I'm the commander of the Commado team that provided Zaire her escort."

That made her pause, and the Commando crossed her muscled arms over her chest as she waited for the matriarch to think it through.

"Shepard paid my bail?!"

L'Voke snorted in amusement, a curiously human gesture, "of course not, Zaire hasn't left her room more than a few times since she got to the Krogan Embassy. Liara T'Soni paid for your bail, so let's go, she wants to talk with you."

This made Aethyta even more tense. Liara didn't know who she was, and the elder Asari was struggling with whether or not to tell her estranged daughter. Nezzy had made her promise, but Liara was far older than when she had last spoken with her ex-bondmate.

Exiting the C-Sec holding area, they moved past the gate and into the back of a waiting skycar with blacked out windows, the driver was also a commando, Aethyta noticed, and watched as the paths and people who walked on them became black dots and lines.

They were barely half way there when the Asari Commander spoke up again, "I trust I don't have to tell you to behave yourself."

Aethyta grunted. They were heading for the Krogan Embassy, any thoughts of violence ended when Krogan guards with diplomatic ties got involved. She had seen what the group that had helped Shepard do to the Republic Commandos, and didn't want to see if she was good enough to not end up like the fifty of those unlucky enough to survive.

The rest of the trip was spent in silence, though L'Voke never took her eyes off of her. She would have made a joke about the Commando checking her out, but the cold way she watched her body was anything but sexual.

Finally arriving at the Krogan Embassy, the skycar landed in an enclosed parking lot, where two Krogan in armour waited for them. Aethyta quickly recognized the one with blue eyes, the one who lead the Krogan at the park. The other looked like his second in command, or perhaps his best biotic, if the waves of biotic resonance she was getting off him was any indication.

Neither spoke to her either, everyone so far were hardened soldiers and warriors, all skilled in combat and heavily experienced, and her estranged daughter apparently worked with these people on a daily basis, definitely something to bring up if she tells Liara who she is.

Following the Former Commando through the door, the two Krogan stepping in behind her, shotguns in hand and serious looks in their eyes. They walked in silence, with only the thump of L'Vokes combat boots in front and the thunk of the two pairs of Krogan feet behind her.

Reaching a red door after two corridors and one set of stairs later and Aethyta watched as the Asari Commander swipe her Omni-Tool over the doors access panel, opening the door and stepping though, indicating that she should follow. The biotic Krogan stayed outside, probably to guard the door.

Blue Eyes however, followed in after her, shutting the door with a grunt and heading to one corner with a respectful nod to the only other Krogan in the room. This one she did recognize, and gave a huff of annoyance.

"Long time Wrex, looking good, few new scars as well by the looks of it."

Urnot Wrex was standing in the middle of the room, and Aethyta didn't fail to notice the lack of cover or objects that a biotic could use as projectiles. The big Krogan himself was in ceremonial silver and red armour. Like everything else with the Krogan, it could still be used as real armour, it just wasn't as up to date as some of the newer armours being sold.

Though Wrex gave a nod of respect and recognition. He kept his face inpassive and his arms crossed in a subtle sign of indifference. Not good, but not bad either.

There was an additional two Asari in Commando gear opposite to Blue Eyes, and L'Voke taking the remaining empty corner, all having rifles in hand save the young Krogan, who was idly stroking his Claymore Shotgun.

Judging from the broken up headplate, Aethyta guessed that the kid was big for his age, and with Wrex in the room, it meant that she could finally have some fun with the young Krogan.

"That's a big gun for such a young whelp, you sure you can handle it big guy?"

Insulting a Krogan was easy if you knew how. By saying that he was young, she had said he didn't deserve the weapon, and by asking if he could handle it, she had claimed doubt in his battle prowess.

But instead of inflating and talking back, or challenging her to her claim, he surprised her by instead keeping his eyes on her body, and just like with L'Voke, it was far from anything sexual. He was analysing her, noting weaknesses and strengths in equal number and coldly calculating scenarios.

Finally he turned to Wrex, who slightly worryingly gave a nod of his head. A grin creeping onto his scarred mug and as he watched the exchange with amusement.

Blue Eyes stepped forward, not threatening, but firmly. He wasn't going to charge her, which worried her more and more. Before speaking in a low growl.

"I have fought enemies of multiple kinds Matriarch, from Rachni to Collectors. I learned from the very best, and I lead the most highly feared and respected Krogan combat team on Tuchunka. I don't care what you say, I earned what I have. I am Urnot Grunt."

There was a few seconds of silence, before Wrex made a small grunt, and the now named kid, Grunt, backed up to his corner, his expression one of quietly controlled pride and anger.

Aethyta had to admit, for a young Krogan, he was probably more level headed and in control of his instincts than most fully grown clan leaders. She was seriously impressed, whoever his Battlemaster was, he had done a good job of both training and raising the boy to analyse strengths before attacking and the proper use restraint. A rare trait that few Krogan mastered, Wrex had chosen his people wisely.

Before she could tell Wrex that though, the only other door from the one Aethyta had entered opened, and in walked the reason she was in this mess in the first place.

Liara still looked young, but the look she had on her face was one that Aethyta easily recognized. A mask, made to make her look older and colder than the Matriarch knew she really was. The same one Little Wing had worn for two years on Illium when Shepard had up and left. Except this time it was being used on her, and she had to admit, it made her slightly uncomfortable to face against.

"Aethyta Visir, I have some questions."

Goddess, event her voice was cold. What she had been apart of had clearly upset the girl, but Aethyta took solace in the fact that she had only helped stop the attack, and it gave her leverage she could use to her advantage. Settling her hands on her hips, she went for a sassy approach.

"Like why I helped you instead of the Republic?"

There was a pause.

"No, that reason is known to me."

Aethyta scoffed.

"Yeah right, you don't know anything about me kid, trust me."

Another slight pause, and then the maiden made her freeze in her tracks.

"I know more than you think ... father."

* * *

 **Due to the length of this chapter, I have split it in two. The second part will be posted when I have finished writing and editing it, so some time next Monday or Tuesday.**

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review,** **Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more. Guests can leave one as well, and it only takes a minute,** **even if it's just a 'Good chapter, keep it up' as it really does help.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: Well, this chapter is late as fuck. Sorry about that, by the way. But this chapter was a bitch to write, combined with writers block, combined with finishing over due course work from by diploma, and starting my extended diploma, it means that writing suddenly became a headache. Though hopefully I'll get this story done within the next month or two, plus fixing the first 5 or 10 chapters that I now realise suck balls.

Still, it will be done! Just not as quickly as I had hoped. Enjoy the new chapter!

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~ I don't own mass effect, Bioware and EA does ~

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 **24.03.0005 PRW**

 **Citadel**

 **Krogan Embassy**

The Asari Matriarch had played with the shadows for more than three hundred years, but she still choked when her daughter revealed the extent of her knowledge. She couldn't help but stare at her daughter as the young maiden gave a small bitter smile and crossing her arms under her chest.

"I don't know what you're talking about" she tried weakly.

The bitter smile was replaced with that of insult.

"My information network is vast, do not insult my Intelligence or my capabilities by saying otherwise."

Wrex laughed, which drew a look of ire from the off balance Matriarch, and Liara used the opening to take a step forward and ask the question she had come to ask.

"Why did the Republic attack Zaire? What was their goal?"

Aethyta took a step back, Liara was looking far less cold and far more enraged. Letting the mask slip and show the anger that was currently being directed at her.

"They were afraid that Shepard would let slip about some major secret of the Republic, so they wanted to shut her up before she could tell the Shadow Broker or the Council" she answered truthfully.

Her estranged daughter seemed to pause, and Aethyta could practically see the incredibly smart mind of hers juggling facts and creating scenarios. After a few seconds of silence, her daughter straightened, and turned to Wrex, a single tattoo raised in question.

"She's not lying as far as I can tell" the Krogan said, shrugging his armoured shoulders.

Liara nodded, apparently trusting Wrex's judgement, and turned back to Aethyta with a contemplating look on her eyes.

"Then why save Shepard? My Intel suggested that you dislike her for what she has _apparently_ done to me."

Later Aethyta would look back at this moment and see how blatantly she was manipulated by her daughter, but in the moment her rage for the Human blinded her to the obvious prod at her issue with the first human Spectre.

"She abandoned you, twice, to work for supremacist terrorist organizations, she's responsible for the deaths of over 300,000 Batarians when she blew up an Athame be damned Relay!"

Pointing a finger at her daughter, she spoke with in increasing anger.

"You were an archeologist, and a damned good one too, but then that Spectre showed up and suddenly your fighting Geth, Mercenaries, _your own Goddess be damned mother,_ and one of the most deadly Turian Spectres on record, all at the same fucking time."

She took a breath, and spoke in a lower tone, bordering on a growl.

"Ten years ago you were an innocent maiden doing what she loved. Now? You're an information broker, fighting terrorists, Republic Commandos, and practically anyone who's getting in that humans way. That human doesn't deserve you, and I only saved her by circumstance."

Through out her entire tirade Liara had stood and listened, and when she finally stopped. The maiden simply held out her hand.

"That is what you see, now you should see what I see."

If Aethyta had been in a better state of mind, she would have probably refused. But her tired and angry brain saw a chance to show her daughter a path away from that manipulating Human, and took it with haste.

She reached out and took her daughter's hand, and aggressively initiated a meld, not bothering to state the words, and Liara let her into her mind. Past some surprisingly powerful mental barriers, and pulled her towards a mental landscape, effectively shutting out the outside world.

Leaving the Embassy behind, Aethyta appeared in a shadowed room, a dark curved desk was placed in the centre, with what appeared to be support colums ringing the edge of the room. Some sort of glowing blue and white energy provided light from behind a glass ceiling, and Aethyta angrily stomped forward, looking for her daughter's presence.

She felt her daughter slowly fade into the room, and Liara appeared sitting in a chair behind the desk, her feet propped up on the table edge as she casually leaned backwards.

Before the angry matriarch could say a word, the desk lit up, information screens flickered to life and information started scrolling downwards like a waterfall, to fast to see the individual letters, but able to see that it was incredibly vast in size.

Her daughter put her feet off the desk and stood up, casually waving away the info screens. A new one appearing at the center of the desk, directly between father and daughter. The new screen depicted a Krogan, two Geth on either side. They appeared to be in some sort of stone ruin, Prothian most likely.

"This" Liara gestured to the screen, "is how I met Zaire Shepard."

Aethyta stared at the unmoving picture, responding with a grunt, "and?"

Liara sighed, "and I would like you to see how things happened, how the events unfolded, from my perspective."

Aethyta wasn't happy with the idea of having to look at this, but she couldn't get her daughter away from Shepard until she could tell what the Human was using to keep her daughter around.

So instead of responding, the crass Matriarch reached out and touched the holo, and the dark room, along with her daughter, faded away. Replaced with the memories of her time at the University of Serrice

She watched as Liara struggled to gain support for her ideas on the Prothian extinction cycle. How she was constantly being sidelined by those who despised her for being a pureblood, and how her daughter tried to convince herself that she was okay on her own, without the worry of friends and family expectations weighing on her shoulders.

The Asari Matriarch watched as she was sent to Therum, a human mining world, where the constant eruption of over a thousand volcanoes across the planet made the uncolonisable world an ideal place to mine for the always needed metals.

With a Prothian facility of some sort discovered when a smaller Human company was prepping an inactive volcano to be mined, the University of Serrice wanted Liara to go and catalog anything of value to be removed for external evaluation.

The trip was made with little issue, but when Liara arrived, she discovered a problem almost immediately. With so many active volcanoes on one planet, the atmosphere was almost uninhabitable, with bio-domes and filter masks used by the Human ground side workers just to be able to breathe. Which meant that Liara needed to spend some of her own money on a filter mask and an air pump to just be able to breathe at the dig site, as the university only sent her the minimal amount of equipment needed to keep the site inhabitable.

Aethyta watched as her estranged daughter forged onwards, hiring a skycar to take out to the ruins, which she also had to pay with her own funds. All the while the Human miners looked at her as if she was a piece of meat on display, which just made Aethyta realise just how much her daughter was alone in the Galaxy.

The angry matriarch watched as her daughters will persevered, and the young archeologist reached the dig site, set up her equipment, and started to look around for anything interesting.

After a quick flash of sped up time, Aethyta watched as her daughter quickly deduced that the ruin was an old Prothian prison. The row upon row of single cells, along with the continuous check points, made it rather obvious to the young maiden.

She watched as Liara spent weeks going over every corner and every possible hiding spot, meticulously cataloging every piece of technology and placing them into crates to be sent back to Thessia. Barely having enough water to drink, never mind enough to wash more than her face.

Things slowed down and became clearer about three weeks after her daughter had arrived at the horrible site. The air filter for the air pump was blocked again, and Aethyta watched as Liara put on another dirty Serrice University uniform, grabbed her Omni-Tool and mask filter, and headed for the surface, the rickety elevator barely staying together as it lifted her to the entrance.

She watched as her daughter barely avoided capture, as the air filter had been destroyed to draw her out by a massive looking Krogan, backed up by what Aethyta recognized as Geth Heretics.

Impressed, Aethyta watched as her daughter blasted the Krogan off his feet and melt the rogue Geth with Warpfire before turning tail and running for the dig site. The roar of the now very pissed off Krogan ordering the Geth to capture her so he could break her legs following her on the wind, along with several of the white coloured Geth that Aethyta recognized as Hoppers.

Liara skipped the battered elevator entirely, instead jumping over the railings and using her biotics to slow her fall. Aethyta could tell from the grunt of effort that her daughter was already tiring, the conditions she had been living in, combined with the large amount of force unleashed on the Krogan meant that fighting wasn't a viable option.

Instead her daughter ran for one of the main Prothian check points, which she had noted early on in her search that it still had power. She had theorized that the power was being drawn from a geothermal power generator that was buried under yet to be uncovered levels below the explored ruins.

The Asari Matriarch initially didn't understand what her daughter was up to, but because this was a memory, she had access to her daughters thought process, and she understood that there was a barrier system that could be activated, and Liara could use her Omni-Tool to wirelessly connect to her terminal and hopefully call for help.

That plan backfired slightly when Liara hit the glowing icon on the main console, and although a powerful Mass Effect kinetic barrier did appeared between her and the pursuing Geth, it also picked the young archeologist off of the floor and pulled her into an X position, using some sort of stasis field.

Trapped and unable to move, Liara was literary stuck until the Krogan on the other side of the barrier could find a way to bypass it and get to her.

Memories sped up again, and Aethyta watched as the Krogan tested both the Barrier itself, and the surrounding rock for a way past it, but both proved to be nearly impervious to both his biotics and his Shotgun blasts.

The Asari Matriarch watched as the Geth moved back and forth. Bringing in pieces of tech that she started to realise it was the main cannon of a Geth armature, which used a combination of plasma and ion particles that was lowered in mass and fired out of a magnetic chamber. It was known for being good at disrupting both biotic and kinetic barriers, which was probably why they were building one.

The Geth built it within a day, though they appeared to be recalibrating it when something happened top side, as both the Krogan and all the Geth that Liara could see moved towards the entrance, drawing their weapons as they went.

A few minutes passed in silence, and then there was a catastrophe of gunfire, the ruins seeming to amplify the sound of the gunfire and blur it into one loud booming tempo, and after what felt to the Asari archeologist like hours, the gunfire petered out.

Silence once again resumed, and the extremely dehydrated and starving Asari thought that she was going to die alone before the sound of the elevator moving filled the empty air. Followed by the screech as it finally gave way and failed.

Tentatively calling out, both father and daughter watched as a different Krogan appeared by the barrier, a female Quarian standing next to him and apparently looking over the mass effect field.

Aethyta immediately recognized Wrex, who's armour was a little scuffed from the apparent fight with the Geth. The Quarian she recognized from the extranet and galactic News. Tali'Zora vas Normandy, and only now did Aethyta realise how young she looked, though the way she held the shotgun in her hands suggested that she at least knew what she was doing with it.

Zora seemed to speak into a private comms channel, and moments later a human and a Turian joined them. The Asari Matriarch quickly spotted the N7 designation on her arm and realised that it was Shepard. The Turian was probably Garrus Vakarian, the ex-C-Sec detective who was now the Primarch's alien advisor. Focusing on the Human more, she watched as the Human seemed to order the three aliens around without much trouble, though she seemed to keep Vakarian and Wrex as far away from each other as possible.

Aethyta watched as the Human finished the Geth cannon, and fired it, disrupting the barrier field long enough for both Shepard and Zora to slip though. The Quarian seemed to attempt to turn off the stasis field via the console her daughter had used, but Shepard apparently got impatient and shot the Eezo emitters embedded into the walls, freeing Liara from the stasis field.

From there it was rather straightforward, with Vakarian and Wrex heading back the way they had came, looking rather irritated with having to be left on their own while so close to each other. Shepard and the Quarian heading towards an old Prothian elevator with the Human having to practically carry her daughter, as she was far too exhausted to make it on her own.

Aethyta started when she felt something exploding underneath the ruins, and thanks to Liara's memories, she quickly understood that the theorized power generator, and that it had probably overloaded from the Geth cannon.

The Prothian prison began heating up, while thick black smoke started to seep into the incredibly slow elevator.

Thankfully the elevator ride was short, and before the smoke started to make the air unbreathable, the elevator came to a stop, revealing that they were next to the entrance to the mining cave that lead to the surface.

Taking the hint, the group made a run for it, with Shepard tacitly picking Liara up and carrying her bridle style in order to get out in time. Smoke was now pouring out of the elevator shaft and she ruins were subtly shaking, making it obvious that the inactive volcano was now anything but.

Exiting the tunnel, Aethyta watched as the group met up with Wrex and Vakarian by a beat up looking Mako, and as the old Normandy SR 1 pulled off a very delicate manoeuvre to get the hanger bay door almost touching the ground. Allowing the Mako to perform a small jump into the bay as the volcano finally began to visibly erupt.

The hanger bay door closed and the Alliance Frigate made for orbit, while a kind looking Female Human arrived in the ship's elevator, carrying a medical bag. Probably the ship's doctor.

From here it was a blur of conversations and questions as Liara's adrenaline ran out and her highly dehydrated and malnourished body caught up with her.

Though the memory briefly sharpened again when Shepard removed her helmet. Time seeming to slow down for Liara, as the young maiden saw the first human Spectre for the first time. Revealing military short black hair, cold green eyes and pale white skin.

Though when Shepard spotted Liara watching her, her eyes seemed to somehow soften, as they briefly made eye contact. The Human Commander smiled slightly, and the change in expression made Liara realise just how beautiful the Human really was, before someone said something over the ship's intercomms, and Shepard's expression seemed to shift from a soft smile to pointed confusion, to internal annoyance, before shifting back to the mask of cold and serious.

From here Aethyta watched as her daughter was told about Nezzy's involvement in the attack on Eden Prime. The fact that the Geth were aligned with Saren, and that Shepard had come into contact with a Prothian Beacon, apparently confirming that her theory that Serrice University had mocked, was perhaps indeed right all along.

* * *

It was hours later, after Aethyta had see the last ten years of her daughters life, and understood that her daughter had spent years being an information broker wasn't the humans direct fault, but because of the Collectors, and therefore the Reapers, that the Matriarch finally understood why her daughter stayed at the Humans side.

Aethyta hadn't failed to notice that bits of information were being censored from her, and when she had confronted Liara about it, had been coolly told that she would need to earn the maidens trust before she shared all her secrets.

Subtly, Aethyta had tried to bypass the mental walls, wanting to see what her daughter had been unwilling to share with her, but after getting caught in a rather painful vision of an entire _race_ screaming out in pain, her daughter had caught her and sufficiently scolded her about trying to get past her defences again.

Apparently before Shepard had died, Liara had asked for a copy of the Beacons message, incase there was anything Shepard had missed. Though later on Illium her daughter had bonded it to her minds mental barriers, forcing anyone trying to bypass or break them to see the entire Prothian race getting obliterated, and Aethyta had to admit, using it as defensive mechanism was a pretty good, but _really_ painful idea.

She had also been surprised and alarmed when she felt another presence in Liara's mind, though she quickly changed that to pissed when she discovered that her daughter had become Aethria with Shepard.

The Aethria link was notoriously dangerous, as when one of the partners die, the other can become mentally unstable, a rather pointed example of this was the Eclipses CEO, Jona Sederis, who herself had become Aethria to Turian in her late maiden years. When said Turain died from a raid by a rival mercenary group, Sederis had gone on a crusade to wipe out every last member of the Bloody Talons, and now that the insane Asari was getting close to becoming a Matriarch, the Asari had been getting more and more unstable.

Her worries were partly put to rest with the understanding that Shepard was looking to settle down, with the Humans PTSD making it unlikely for her to be able to return to the battle field for at least a few centuries.

Another thing that made the soul link easier to accept, was Shepard's extended life span, which also gave Aethyta a better understanding of why the Matriarchs were desperate to have the Human killed before she could meet with the Council, as the stubborn and bigoted bitches in in power would refuse to let go of their age limit advantage.

Exiting the meld, Aethyta once again looked around the room, looking at Wrex, who was looking rather bored with his arms crossed in front of his large chest. Urnot Grunt, who Aethyta had learned was trained by Shepard herself, and the Asari Commandos, all of who were loyal to Shepard for what she had done in the War, and for the first time, Aethyta could understand why.

She still didn't like Shepard, but with time, and plenty of alcohol, there was a possibility of that changing.

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 **Please note that updates will be erratic for a while, and that it will probably remain that way until this fic is finished. I'll probably then take a break before fixing shit in the first part of this story, and then start on my next project. AU Project - Revenge of the Fallen.**

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 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review,** **Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more. Guests can leave one as well, and it only takes a minute,** **even if it's just a 'Good chapter, keep it up' as it really does help.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	20. Chapter 20

~ I don't own mass effect, Bioware and EA do ~

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 **26.03.0005 PRW**

 **Citadel**

 **Presidium Tower**

Zaire had been reluctant to bring the extra security of Grunt and 5 of his best Krogan, but a five man team of the Turian DeathWatch, an STG team, a Quarian TCC squad, multiple Spectres of different species and Zaire's own security forces was extreme overkill at its finest. Not that anybody seemed to care, and it both settled and agitated Zaire's nerves with so many guns in the room. Thankfully she had clear line of sight to both of the entrances to the room, which was another issue she had discovered she had, and she had immediately noticed the lack of armed Asari, apart from her Commandos and Samaras Justicars.

Both the Council and The Board of Directors were in the same room as her, the room itself was rather large, with Zaire, Liara, The Citadel Council and Board of Directors sitting in a circle in the middle, with their security standing in hidden balconies and around the edge of the room. They were pretty far below the Presidium, with a small army of Council Guards and C-Sec between them and the prying eyes of the Galaxy.

Councillor Irissa looked rather nervous, with her hands twitching and eyes flicking between her and Samara. The Justicar was looking like she was preparing to dispense 'Justice' right then and there, Zaire herself was too tense and battling the instinct to keep glancing around the room to find it amusing.

Ashley was also in the room, which didn't help with her nerves at all, and the Spectre was alternating her glares between Zaire and the Asari Councillor, who Shepard had quickly realised must have known about the attack beforehand. So it appeared that another Asari Councillor was probably going to be needed, if the looks her colleagues were giving were anything to go by.

Apparently satisfied that everyone had wasted enough of their time trying to unsuccessfully settle in, Councillor Osoba clapped his hands in an attempt to gain everyone's attention, and began speaking.

"Right. I'd like to start by thanking everyone for clearing their schedules to be here, as I think we can all agree that this is a mess that needs to be sorted out as quickly and as smoothly as possible, and hopefully before this gets any more out of hand than it already has."

Zaire couldn't help but snort at the last bit. As she couldn't care less about what happened to the Council, all she wanted was to have a couple decades of uninterrupted peace to sort the shit in her head out and have a life with Liara. What happened to the Council after that didn't concern her in the slightest.

Liara sent her a mild glare, basically telling her to shut up and let the Councillor speak. Although Wrex looked rather amused as well, whether at the Councillors statement or Liara's order she couldn't tell.

The Human Councillor spoke up again before she could get lost in her thoughts, and it appeared that the rest of the Council and Directors were happy to let him speak for them.

"As we understand it, after the War, the Alliance found and kept Former Spectre Shepard detained illegally in order to study her new cybernetic implants. This is being addressed to quietly. After the Commander awoke and escaped, the Alliance panicked and lied to us. They contacted us and claimed that Shepard was indoctrinated, and asked us for our assistance in tracking her down."

Zaire had to clamp down on an unwanted surge of pure anger that attempted to overtake her, and it was only thanks to the piece of Liara's presence acting as a counter balance that she didn't fly off the handle and attack one of the Council.

Councillor T'Neari cut in quickly, "we have both a Spectre, and a reliable N7 team gathering intelligence for a quiet arrest behind closed doors, with another team on standby for rapid response."

Giving a confirming nod, Osoba carried on with his little speech.

"After the joint Council-Alliance team found evidence of the Admirals false accusations, they immediately brought it to our attention, while the Council and Board worked on finding the truth, our Colleague, Councillor Irissa, instead decided to quietly pass on said information to the High Asari Matriarchs on Thessia."

There was a slight shift in the room as everyone in attendance turned to look at the Asari Councillor in question, who seemed to shrink even farther into the seat she was sitting in.

Liaradecided to speak up for the first time, "perhaps you should explain your actions, Councillor, so that we can fully understand what compelled you to share Council Classified Intelligence with an unauthorised Government?"

The Asari Councillor seemed to shrink even further, but answered clearly without any need for further prompt.

"I believe that my Secretary is employed by The Thirty to monitor my office and secure communications, and when we were informed of the Commanders implant specifications, she informed the Matriarchs, who then contacted me, and used some _uncomfortable_ information to gain access to the relative files."

Councillor Varn finished for her disgraced colleague.

"The Matriarchs realised that Shepard was a threat to their power due to her new, _abilities,_ and sent a highly skilled Wet Work team to kill her before she could meet and possibly share the technology with us."

"My sources indicate" Councillor Esheel cut in, "that you personally allowed the Wet Work team onto the Citadel, and was well aware of the kill order the Matriarchs had sent."

This time the impulse to lash out was harder to contain, and a small voice in the back of her head told Zaire that punching the Asari Councillor though the nearest wall would no doubt be highly cathartic. Subconsciously, Zaire's trigger fingers started twitching, and Liara caught on almost immediately and moved to stand close enough to initiate a shallow meld.

The presence of her lover active in her mind helped Zaire get a lid on her unpredictable emotions, and Shepard let out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding. She started using a breathing technique Alliance snipers used to calm her racing heart and calm herself down, she only had to put up with them for an hour, and then she could walk out a free woman.

Nobody noticed the two silently share a conversation, and Osoba was still talking "-Republic is in political upheaval. I'm sure that when Shepard makes a public statement saying it was only small elements in the Republic the Galaxy will calm down. We can reinstate your Spectre status and you can start work on dealing with The Thirty, quietly of course."

Zaire didn't wait for Liara to answer, and spoke loudly and clearly as possible the answer to _that_ particular question.

"No."

The following silence was deafening, and everyone who hadn't been told beforehand turned to look at her as if she was crazy, Ashley looked torn between confused and angry, with the Council looking annoyingly surprised. The the Human Councillor was the quickest to recover.

"You don't wish to make a statement?"

Zaire sent him an angry glare, and stood up as she began speaking.

"Let me get one thing straight with this Council."

She could feel her anger getting the better of her, but quite frankly, she didn't care, and pointed her finger at the seated Council before her.

"I don't care what happens to this God damned galaxy anymore, I've solved more of the galaxies issues than you have, and in a hell of a shorter time period. After this shit is done, I'm gone. You won't be hearing from me again for at least a decade, and if I do get in contact again, I doubt that it'll be to solve any more of your problems."

Director Von spoke up, looking rather shocked.

"You cannot simply walk away Commander, not after everything you've accomplished!"

Liara stood up and placed a restraining hand on her shoulder, as everyone in the room could see that Zaire looked ready to jump across the table and strangle half the Council. The respective armed forces around the room tensed as Shepard did, with guns of all shapes and sizes getting pointed around the room as Commandos and Justicars lit their biotics, while the Councils own Guards tensed.

The words that Shepard growled out we're practically laced with hate.

"Watch me."

With those final words, Commander Zaire Shepard turned and strode out of the room.

Liara sighed, but understood that her Aethria was struggling to emote properly, and stress was something she wasn't able to deal with correctly anymore. Still, a decade of peace with a dedicated mind-healer and psychiatrist would help, and the Councillor had been unbelievably presumptuous.

Turning to face the Council, she spoke clearly but quietly.

"Shepard has been suffering from a Human psychological problem known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, she will be receiving professional care, but will not be available for a decade or two."

"And where," asked Director Flesher, "will Shepard be receiving this care?"

Liara gave a sarcastic smile that had obviously come from her bondmate.

"Classified. Good day Councilors."

And with that done, the Asari Broker turned and followed her bondmate out the door, her Commandos forming up around her as she left, with Samara and her Justicars only staying due to the Order wanting her to escort the Asari Councillor to Thessia for trial.

There was a few more seconds of stunned silence as everyone in the room acknowledged that Shepard and her bondmate had simply stood up and walked out of a room filled with some of the most important people in the Galaxy without a backwards glance.

Though the silence was quickly filled with Wrex's laughter, as he got up and left the room as well, Grunt and his forces chuckling as they followed.

* * *

 **04.04.0005 PRW**

 **Thessia**

 **Attena**

Well, Shepard considered, it wasn't in that bad of condition. The small hidden compound that Liara had on Thessia was more of a fortified house with extra walls than a fortified facility, which was probably a good thing when she thought about it, though it clearly had gained the attention of a Reaper at some point during the War.

Zaire mercilessly clamped down on the mental twitch that thought alone caused, and instead started looking at the walls and building itself.

The perimeter walls and outside structure of the house was built out of some sort of smooth pale looking curved stone. Which was supported and interwoven with curved steel that had a faint blue tinge, the second and third floors had large floor to ceiling windows, though Zaire could see that two at least needed replacing.

Sadly whatever had happened during the War had left both the Air Car Garage and the main front entrance nothing but rubble, with plant life starting to grow over everything without gardeners to tame the local greenery anymore.

Liara interrupted her muse by planting a kiss on her cheek, which brought an involuntary smile to the ex-commanders face, and the Human responded in kind. Wrapping her free arm around her Asari's waist as she set her bag down, and Liara rested her head on Zaire's shoulder, humming in content.

"I have construction workers being screened, and I'm getting in touch with a few of my mother's more trusted gardeners. We'll have to put up with the construction crew being here for the first four or five months, but after that everything should calm down slightly."

Zaire didn't reply verbally, but her thoughts were easily understood through the shallow meld Liara always created whenever they were alone and close enough, and Shepard couldn't help but look backwards towards the tree line, were a small forest stood between them and the recovering city of Attena. The secluded and peaceful atmosphere was just what was needed, and Zaire could practically feel her nerves settle down.

The moment was ruined when Aethyta walked past, giving a mild glare towards Zaire, and a small smile to Liara. Zaire had realised that this was probably going to be customary for a while, but Shepard also saw the way Liara left her side to go hug her father rather fiercely, and Zaire decided that putting up with an inlaw was worth it if Liara could learn to connect with her Father.

Shepard noticed Yano rounding up some of her Commandos and setting up patrols, and Zaire waved the Asari Commander over. For the first time in over eight years, the future looked decidedly bright, and Zaire smiled as Yano walked up beside her, both turning to watch the Thessian Sun set.

"You sure you want to stay here? I doubt anything will be going on for a while."

Yano just laughed, "nothing is boring when your involved Z. Besides, I think after everything that's happened in the last few months, my girls could use a break, and your in need of trusted security."

A shout of her name caused Zaire to turn around, and that was the only reason why she managed to catch the beer bottle before it hit her in the head. A similar bottle being tossed to Yano, Aethyta walked up to them, looking rather pleased with herself.

"Don't tell Liara, I promised not to bring any alcohol."

Yano laughed as she popped the disposable cap and took a swig, Zaire doing the same at a more subdued pace. While the two drank, Aethyta popped her own beer and wondered out loud, "Who knows what the future will hold?"

Yano snorted, and held up her beer.

"To whatever the future brings."

Smirking, Shepard clinked her beer with her friends, and then again with Aethyta's.

"To whatever the hell the future brings."

* * *

 **And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the end of this story.**

 **It's been a fun ride, and to those of you wondering about What happened to the Alliance and other lose ends, I will be posting a series of one-shots in one neat collection, it'll be called; Lose Ends Tied.**

 **I would also like to thank everyone who Reviewed, as it was your feedback that helped shape the story and motivate me to finish it.**

 **Finally, I will be going back over a lot of previous chapters and changing a lot. The story will be changed to fit the writing style of the later chapters, and I will post a chapter update when this is done to notify everyone.**

 **Thank you for reading,**

 **~ JunkMail**


	21. Update!

**Update!**

 **So, for those of you who have been waiting, (see' s an empty room and sighs) I've finally gotten around to rewriting the Betrayal. I had been hoping to completely rewrite it before posting, but my muse up and ran off with another story, so I'm posting what I've done so far and moving from there.**

 **I've also rewritten Zaire's Military service record into a more Codex like story, with new notes and story details added. It's now called Scars Not Physical - information n' stuff.**

 **Another thing! I've finally gotten around to thinking up a name for my universe. So anything with Scars Not Physical in the title is part of this universe.**

 **So, feel free to look though my profile page and check out the changes :)**

 **I'm going to bed now. It's 1 AM and I'm probably going to have to edit everything again in the morning.**

 **Later!**

 **~ JunkMail**

 **Edit: so it's 12 o'clock the next day, I read though this again and was surprised I didn't spell anything wrong or forget anything majorly important, but I'd thought I'd just put up that the holidays are coming up for me in about five weeks, and I'll be doing a bit more writing then. I'll probably also try to finish one of the ten or so half finished one shots I've got in storage to post then as well.**

 **So yeah.**

 **Later!**

 **Again...**


End file.
